Food and Memories

Whole Wheat Bread
Cranberry Salad
Sour Cream Cornbread
Tuna Pie
Chocolate Butterscotch Cookies
1 load of laundry
2 dishwasher loads of dishes

This is what I did today.
I would post a picture of my feet but they have gone into hiding.

It was a good day, though. I love it when I feel like I have actually accomplished something at the end of the day. I also love how cooking gives me "thinking time". Today I thought about my mother. She would have been 77 today.

What was really nice is that today, her birthday, wasn't a sad day. I didn't cry or really "miss" her. I just thought about her, and reflected on our relationship. It would be lovely if we had had the kind of relationship that brought warm, fuzzy memories, but we didn't. We loved each other but we didn't really understand each other. Due to several factors, misunderstanding being one, we didn't get along exceptionally well. I didn't grow up enough to truly appreciate her until long after she was gone. Unfortunately, youth was not an available excuse, (I was in my 30's, married with children) I was simply immature (and selfish) when it came to relationships. Not that I am really good at them now, just improved. My children have taught me a lot.
But today was not even about looking back with regret. It was just about simple memories drifting through my mind- mostly about food. As I looked through my favorite recipe book I noted several of her recipes, handed down one at a time, usually through a phone call that started with, "Mom, how do you make... ". There were some things that she never got the hang of cooking well- steaks were an endangered species in her kitchen (I gave up in them years ago- I hated spending all that money to end up with unchewable blackened beef jerky). But nobody could hold a candle to her fried chicken (except maybe Grandma) and her banana pudding (even Grandma).
I know enough today to be grateful for my mom, for the things that that she taught me and the things that she passed on to me. This Thanksgiving we'll be gathering with my siblings and their families and I'll make potato salad to contribute to the feast. Just like Mom taught me.