Today was a wonderful way to kick off 2020 with both my husband's family and my brother's wife's extended family. Beautiful people. Beautiful conversation and understanding. We are quite lucky in that our family has continued to grow and yet all three families live within 10 minutes of eachother in either direction. In the midst of the party tonight, my mother-in-law brought a coconut for everyone to try. After a picture of a coconut and a straw had been sent around to my extended family on Christmas Day, she decided to carry this experience with her. 

With care, the coconut was shaved and cracked open just so the meaty seal on top was cut out and the juice could be enjoyed. Even more exciting, we located tiny Hawaiian umbrellas to place on the outside of every coconut-talk about whimsical. 

Though the experience of watching the coconut crack open was beautiful, what was even more beautiful was this notion that a simple coconut was actually an important tradition in the engagement ceremony of my sister-in-law's parents. Somehow, a picture was found of both of them sipping from a coconut, their heads together with tiny smiles behind their straws. So when we saw this picture we decided to create a side-by-side moment some 30 years later, the same pose was reinacted which then followed with everyone taking a picture sipping a coconut with their heads together. You just never know how a simple act of kindness (like the special delivery of a coconut) can recreate so many beautiful memories for another. And in that moment of sipping that coconut, there was certainly greater clarity found in sipping traditions and recognizing memories important to another and just how quickly 30 years can slip by. There is clarity in cracking open something sweet and beautiful and sharing it side-by-side with another.