Good Things Come

My Family at Dinner inside my Project-House

My dad was born and raised in New Orleans, as were his two younger brothers, but Dad was the only one who moved away (and stayed away) from the Big Easy. This resulted seldom family visits and kind of an unfamiliarity between my uncles' families and ours. I grew up barely knowing them, only visiting when we went down to visit Grandma.

When I married, the first trip I took with my new husband was to visit my grandma, grandpa, great aunt and uncles -- all the New Orleans clan. (They did not come to the wedding because it was unannounced. In fact, I wanted to secretly elope and have a later ceremony but my groom insisted I invite my parents and siblings.)

Since I married in 1992, I have lived in seven different homes of my own, three of which I owned. All of my family has had an open invitation to visit me, and I have personally asked to "get together with" all three of my uncles. (One is my mom's brother.)  I have visited them, but nobody has visited me, not even when I sent them invitations to my wedding vow renewal ceremony... until last weekend.

Dad and one of his brothers have become travelling buddies in the last few years and that brother came with his wife to visit my parents for the fourth of July holiday. They were in the area for just under a week and my parents kidnapped them up to my house. (Ha!)

Keep in mind that this is the uncle who has renovated and built his own homes and he has seen pictures of my project house online. What he has not seen online is pictures of the current interior progress of my project. He has also never eaten my cooking. Was he ever in for a treat!

Here are pictures of my house's interior progress so that you can see what my relatives saw:

The Kitchen (Before)

 










The Kitchen (After)  












The Dining Room (Before)












The Dining Room (After)












The Living Room (Before)












and

The Living Room (After)



and

Obviously, the house is not finished, but my uncle and aunt had some helpful tips and advice for me.

What was on the menu?
Appetizer: Chips and homemade salsa (My family inhaled it.)
Salad: Guacamole salad with chopped lettuce, shredded cheese, homemade guacamole, homemade pico de gallo and homemade cilantro-lime vinaigrette. (It was so good they stuffed it into already satisfied bellies.)
Main Dish: My famous, homemade, chicken tortilla soup. (They asked for smallish portions because they were full but ate every last drop in their bowls.)
Dessert: Hot tea and homemade Mexican wedding cookies -- courtesy of my amazing daughter (Believe it or not, they had trouble trying to stop themselves from eating all 88!)

The visit was so nice that by the time everyone left to return to my parents' house, several hours' drive from me, I was glowing with praise -- and they were talking about how soon they could come back! I guess this just goes to show that "good things come to those who wait."