Hi First name / friend,

 

You may have noticed there wasn't a Fun Mail in your inbox last month. July looked a little different for our family as we traveled to Minnesota for my mom's Celebration of Life service, and I decided to give myself the time and space to be fully present with our family and everything that came with saying goodbye.

 

It was a beautiful and emotional time filled with stories, photographs, laughter, tears, and so many reminders of a life well-lived. Having our family together again was such a gift, and as we planned her service and gathered with people who knew and loved her, I found myself thinking so much about what we carry forward from the people we love.

When someone we love is gone, we realize that what remains isn't usually the things they owned. We carry their stories and traditions, the recipes they made over and over again, the words they said so often that we can still hear them in our heads, and perhaps most importantly, the way they made us and others feel.

 

I've been thinking about that a lot lately.

🌿 The Things We Carry Forward

 

I've shared with you before that so much of what I know about hospitality came from watching my mom. She didn't necessarily call what she did "hospitality." It was simply the way she lived her life.

 

My mom genuinely loved people and was interested in them. She would “visit” with people wherever she went, whether it was someone standing beside her in the grocery store line, greeting a neighbor walking down the street, another woman washing her hands next to her in a public restroom, or even chatting with someone she had just met. Her “visiting” with people came as natural to her as breathing. She loved people and they loved her right back! :) She and my Dad provided a living example of what a committed marriage relationship looked like. She welcomed people into her home, gathered with her neighborhood friends over simple cups of coffee, and had the most beautiful way of making people feel accepted and special. God made her that way.

 

As I've reflected on her life these past few months, I've realized again how many pieces of her I see in myself, and what a gift that is. There are so many things I hope to carry forward from both of my parents—their kindness, faith, gratitude, love of family, and genuine interest in other people.

 

Maybe that's one of the most beautiful things about legacy. We don't simply remember the people we love; we have the opportunity to continue some of the very best parts of them.

 

🏔 Making New Family Memories in North Carolina

 

There's something especially sweet about watching your grandchildren experience summer. They find excitement in things we adults might easily overlook, and I love seeing the world through their eyes and listening to their conversations and laughter.

 

After spending so much time thinking about my own mom and the memories she created for our family, I found myself looking at these days from a different perspective. I'm now the grandmother “Gigi” in their memories! What a thought that is, and it feels especially meaningful to me right now.

 

We can spend so much time planning the big experiences for our families that we sometimes forget how meaningful the ordinary moments can become. A meal around the table, a walk together, a favorite vacation spot, a recipe everyone requests, or a tradition that happens so often that no one can remember exactly when it began.

 

Those ordinary moments are often the ones we carry with us.

🍎 Back to School + Simple Hospitality

 

It's hard to believe we're already approaching (or some have already started!) another school year! This time of year always makes me think about the teachers who are preparing their classrooms, like our daughter-in-law, Ashley. They are learning new names, organizing supplies, and getting their classroom’s ready to welcome a new group of children into their care.

 

Ashley is celebrating her 14th year as a teacher. It’s especially meaningful because she is an alumni at that very same school! She teaches 3rd grade and loves her students like no one I’ve seen before. I always imagine her to be “the teacher” that so many students will say was THE one who invested and believed in them to make her their very “favorite teacher” of all time! :)

 

 

Having watched our own children go through school and now watching our grandchildren do the same, I have an even greater appreciation for the teachers who invest so much of themselves in our children. A wonderful teacher can become part of a child's story for the rest of his or her life, and I think the beginning of a new school year is such a good opportunity to remind them that their work is noticed and appreciated.

 

Believe it or not…I still keep in touch with our daughter Anna’s kindergarten teacher; she’s a dear friend of mine! While Anna was in town recently with our grandchildren, Mrs. Wood was able to stop by and meet her daughter/our granddaughter, Margaret who was just about to have her first week of Kindergarten! They had so much fun with a tea party and playing with what were her Mommy’s Barbie dolls. Tracie brought Margaret the book The Kissing Hand, about a little raccoon nervous for his first day of Kindergarten. Funny enough, her new kindergarten teachers read that very same book to Margaret on her first day of school and they had a fun scavenger hunt around the school looking for the raccoon. What a full circle moment!

 

 

This brings me back to Invitation #29 from Simple Hospitality: "Invite Your Child's Teacher to Dinner."

 

When our children were young, Scott and I enjoyed getting to know their teachers outside of the classroom. Inviting a teacher into your home gives you an opportunity to know the person who is spending so many hours teaching, encouraging, and caring for your child, and it also gives your child the chance to see his or her teacher as a person outside of school.

 

Of course, showing hospitality to a teacher doesn't have to mean inviting them to dinner! Maybe this season of life isn't one where having someone over feels manageable, and that's perfectly okay. You could write a handwritten note at the beginning of the year, bring a favorite coffee or a small bouquet of flowers, ask how you can support the classroom, or simply tell a teacher that you're grateful for the time and energy they're investing in your child and that you'll be praying for them throughout the year.

 

Hospitality is really about making people feel seen, valued, and cared for, and our teachers certainly deserve to feel all three.
 

 

 

Feb, 1996 (THIRTY YEARS ago!!) 

 

🥥 A Taste of Summer

 

Have you ever eaten something while traveling that was so delicious you were still thinking about it after you returned home?

 

That happened to me at The Cloister on Sea Island with their Coconut Chia Pudding. I enjoyed it so much that I asked about the recipe, and they were gracious enough to verbally share it with me.

 

When we returned home, I began experimenting in my own kitchen until I came up with a version we loved. Scott even says he likes mine better than The Cloister's, which may or may not be true, but I'll happily take the compliment! :)

 

It's creamy, refreshing and makes such a delicious breakfast parfait, or summer treat. I've shared my version on the blog so you can make it at home, too.

 

And really, isn't sharing a favorite recipe another little form of hospitality? Something that brought joy to your own table gets passed along for someone else to enjoy at theirs.

 

Click below to get the recipe and read the story:

 

✨ This Month's Invitation 

As a new school year begins, I'd love to invite you to encourage a teacher in your life. It might be your child's or grandchild's teacher, a teacher in your neighborhood, a Sunday school teacher, or even someone you know who has spent a lifetime pouring into children.

 

Take a moment to tell them how grateful you are for what they do. It doesn't have to be elaborate or expensive to be meaningful.

 

Sometimes a few sincere words of encouragement arrive at exactly the moment someone needs to hear them. Let's make sure the people who spend so much of their time encouraging our children receive a little encouragement themselves. 

🌼 One Final Thought

 

As I've thought about my mom's legacy this summer, I've been reminded that we may never fully know what another person carries forward because of us.

 

A child may remember something a teacher said decades later, just as I continue to carry so many of the lessons I learned simply by watching my parents live their lives. Our children and grandchildren may someday continue traditions we didn't even realize had become important to them. A friend may remember an encouraging note we barely remember writing, or someone may never forget the day we noticed they needed a little extra kindness.

 

Sometimes the things we carry forward are as simple as a favorite recipe or family tradition, a listening ear when someone needs to talk, an open door and a seat at the table, or a small act of kindness offered at just the right moment. These things may not seem particularly significant when we're doing them, but I think they are often the very things people remember most.

 

Planning my mom's Celebration of Life service reminded me of that in such a beautiful way. As people gathered to remember her, they shared stories about her beautiful smile, her warmth, her faith, her kindness, the way she welcomed people, and the way she made them feel. Those are the things that remain, and I think that's both a wonderful encouragement and a challenge for all of us as we consider what we're passing along to the people around us.
 

 

Thank you for being here and allowing me to share a little bit of our family's story with you. I'm so grateful for this community and for the opportunity we have each month to encourage one another and notice the people around us and find simple ways to show them we care.

 

Until next time —

✨ Will you accept this month's invitation to spread some simple hospitality?

P.S. Drop me a note via email (or, better yet…a REAL 💌handwritten one!!) if something you read brought a special thought to mind. I always love hearing from you!! 

P.P.S. Did you know? All proceeds from my book, Simple Hospitality, go directly to support the new Orlando Health Children’s Pavilion—a place of hope, healing, and care for families in our community. Thank you for helping make a difference with every book you gift and share.

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If someone forwarded it to you—welcome! I'm so glad you're here. My name is Jennifer Boyd, and I recently published Simple Hospitality: An Invitation to Add Kindness to Your Everyday Life, a dream 25 years in the making. In both my book and newsletter, I share the heart behind hospitality—simple ways to bring kindness and connection into everyday life.

 

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