The weather is still perfect. The days are wonderfully warm and the nights cool for sleeping. The air is mostly still though every now and then a bit of a breeze moves the leaves up and down on the low branches of the pine trees. The blue sky has only a few puffy clouds. It is a day to be out and about. I do need groceries and I might as well go to the dump.

When I was in Ghana, my mother sent the best packages. I’d get the notice of her package from the post office then go on the school bus to pick it up. Sometimes the boxes were a bit crushed and torn, but the insides were generally intact. The boxes were always heavy. My mother send packages of food like Mac and cheese and pizza in a box and snacks like beef jerky and hard candy. She also sent games and origami, coloring books and crayons. There were holiday decorations. I used to go through the packages with a great deal of delight. I wanted all the goodies to last as long a possible. I reserved only Sunday for package food day.

I attempted to cook when I was in Ghana. I hadn’t cooked when I was home so it was a new venture. My friends and I tried to make bagels. That was a colossal failure, but I was great in making the boxed food from home, and on my first Christmas my sugar cookies were perfect. They were in Christmas shapes, frosted and sprinkled, all from my mother. Sunday was my special food from home day.

The packages took months to arrive. They came by ship except for one my mother paid an enormous amount of money to send airmail. It was my package of all things Christmas: a small tree, decorations, those cookie cutters and sprinkles, fireplace crepe paper, ornaments from our own tree and cardboard decorations. I loved that package.

I sent a couple of packages home. The first had Christmas presents. I sent the package from Accra, the main post office, hoping it would travel fast. It had carvings, leather bags and some traditional clothing. It arrived long after Christmas.

Every package brought a piece of home. My mother had an uncanny sense to send exactly what I needed, what I’d love.