Milestones

The phone rang and when I answered it, I heard Olivia's cheery voice on the other end.
After a few opening pleasantries, she got down to business. "How do you make spaghetti bake?" she asked. "What temperature and how long do you keep it in the oven?"
I told her how I make it and when the call ended I sat down in the chair beside my kitchen window and looked at fading blooms on the weeping cherry next door.
When I moved away from home, I frequently called my mother and grandmother for instructions on how to make certain meals - it was a connection with home. Familiar food sometimes made home seem closer.
To have Olivia call me and ask the same kind of questions I asked at her age was a sweet surprise. I was pleased she called and, well, somehow proud, I think. I called my mom and grandmom not just because they were excellent cooks, but because I loved and respected them. Could Olivia feel that way about me?
Technically, I am Olivia's stepmother, but she was already 18 when I married her Dad, so I really was her dad's wife more than a parent.
In the past five years, my role in Olivia's life has changed and evolved and grown. I think I have become an advisor and mediator, interpreter of her sometimes inscrutable father and I have become the one who reminds her of birthdays and other important dates. We have settled into a comfortable friendship that warms my heart.
Last weekend, Olivia graduated from Radford. We made the trek south on Saturday morning, arriving in time to pick up Olivia, her boyfriend and her cousin and his fiance. Olivia looked radiant. It might have been the chilly weather, but I think it was that she was excited to graduate.
Following the ceremony, we returned to the small house on Claytor Lake that she shares with her boyfriend. Olivia wanted all of her family to break bread together in celebration of her milestone achievement. We had a lovely time and enjoyed sitting on her screened in porch watching boats race on the glassy water.
It was a big week for the Rinker family with the Ump turning 50 (officially) on Monday and Olivia graduating on Saturday.
My joy came from sharing these important milestones with two people I love dearly. It was a good week, indeed.