Dear Little Traveler,
Around August 17th, a small group of us visited your Atrium Café. It was a rather impromptu event hastily thrown together before one of us left for overseas, one started school, another was planning a big party and the last one was on a rare break from caregiving duties.
After a lovely time, memorialized by the enclosed picture, I wrote a small poem about the event from the perspective of the family member with the most long-standing connections to the Little Traveler. Little did we know that a few weeks after this event, she would break her leg and end up in the hospital for weeks with serious complications. As she struggles to recover, and we’re daily grateful to still have her with us, it reminds us of how important these little impromptu occasions can be. Because life, indeed, is short and dear.
Thank you for having a location that is ALWAYS a special occasion, even when it’s not.
With admiration and appreciation,
Mary Totz
Amidst the Great Grand Mama
by Mary Totz
As if within a time capsule, she sat in wonderment
and contemplated special meals and pondered where they went
the woven generations that had wandered through this place
left many lasting memories of artistry and grace
the visits with her mother, only rarely garnering toys
the luncheons with her spouse or girls were always times of joy
and now on this occasion with her eldest great grandchild
and ancillary relatives would manage to be filed
within the drawer of cherished moments, unexpected, dear,
removed from troubles and from anguish, left her with a queer
and reminiscent wistfulness of so much simpler days
of youthful beauty, family whole and much to her amazement
she could recall the atrium when it was still outside
the little shop that started it, the country day school rides,
and in suspended animation flew away her woes
transporting her to happier times surrounded there by those
she held close to her bosom in encapsulated heart
and let them warm her thoroughly before we had to part
and so a trip to Little Traveler, more than just a meal,
infused her with a tender loving touch needed to heal
