“The secret to life is finding joy in ordinary things. I’m interested in happiness.”
Today is fall. The sun is bright in a blue sky, for the meantime anyway, as clouds are predicted. The breeze is warm. The high today will be 66°. I’m still wearing flannel.
Nala loved her ride and loved the vet. She was so stressed, tongue in cheek here, that she fell asleep lying on the floor. She got her shots and her nails clipped. The tech who returned her to me said she is the nicest dog, a sweet girl. I agree, but I did have to bring in some hangers she stole and took outside and chase her for the bird seed loader.
When I was a kid, my mother woke me up every weekday morning, gave me breakfast, made sure I was dressed neatly in my school uniform, handed me my lunch and sent me on my way to school. It was the same each day, but I never noticed. I thought every day was special. Breakfast always included cocoa. I remember my mother made it with milk. There were always little bubbles on the top of the cocoa. Sometimes we had soft boiled eggs in chicken egg cups with sliced toast for dipping, oatmeal, always with a few lumps, or cold cereal, Rice Krispies for me. I’d hold the bowl to my ear and listen for the snap, crackle and pop.
The walk to school changed with the seasons. In the fall, the trees overhanging the sidewalk turned color then their leaves fell and covered the sidewalk. The leaves would turn brown and sort of crispy. They’d crackle underfoot. The walk was cold most winter days. Our cold breath made clouds, and we pretended to smoke. Sometimes the sidewalk had snow piled high on both sides. Most people shoveled the walk in front of their houses but a few didn’t. We’d stomp through the high snow. Spring was the best time. The air was sweet, flowers stated growing in the front beds of the houses lining the sidewalk and the birds sang. I wanted the walk to be longer.
I learned something new every day. I never knew what I’d see on my walk to school. I remember watching a frog jumping the tracks, and I remember a few birds’ nests on the branches of the maple trees. I saw flowers bloom and grow. It was a time of wonder.
When I was older, I forgot to notice the world around me, but that wonder returned when I was in Ghana. I found joy in everyday. I haven’t forgotten.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
October 1, 2024 at 3:40 pm
Hi Kat,
Today is partly cloudy with a high temperature predicted to reach 91°. Autumn Here doesn’t usually arrive until the first couple of weeks in November. That’s when the leaves begin to change color and fall from the trees.
When I was a kid I rode my bike most days to school. If the weather was rainy or cold, my mother would drive me and pick me up after school.
My mother also made my lunches and she packed them in my caricature lunch box. Each school year I would choose that year’s lunch box. Every day she packed a sandwich on Wonder Bread and a hostess cupcake or Snowball. Both of my parents loved eating soft boiled eggs for breakfast, which I don’t like to this very day. She never offered me scrambled or fried eggs. Usually I ate toast with jelly and butter for breakfast or cold cereal. On very cold days she would also make hot chocolate and always with whole milk. Other days, we got whole milk by the glassful. I’m amazed that my cholesterol as an adult is so low, considering how much whole milk, butter, and other dairy products I consumed as a kid.
Jewish mothers wanted fat babies. My mother rarely ate with us, she supervised the meals. Her favorite expression was, “Eat, eat, look how skinny you look”. That was always accompanied by another tablespoon of mashed potatoes, or vegetables. If we complained that we were full, she would say, “What’s the matter, you don’t like my mashed potatoes?” That was spoken with a large serving of Jewish mother guilt.
October 1, 2024 at 8:30 pm
Hi Bob,
Today stayed nice all day, but tonight is chilly. I should have worn more than just flannel. I had uke practice tonight and turned on the heat on the way home.
My mother didn’t learn to drive until she was in her late 30’s so we walked to and from school in the rain or snow. I would sometimes ride my bike in the spring or fall but not in winter, too good.
I think every kid had Wonder Bread for lunch. I also got a new lunchbox every year. Usually I had a meat sandwich. Bologna was my favorite. Fridays we couldn’t eat meat so we usually had tuna and once a month we left school and bought a sub at the shop near school. Dessert was best the days after my mother grocery shopped.
That is the best mother’s guilt trip. My mother was good at it but not as good as your mother.