Easter Memories

  Potato salad.  Tonight I attempted to recreate a childhood favorite by making from scratch and from memory my Grandma's potato salad.  A few potatoes, some chopped onion, chopped pickle, mayonnaise, a squirt of mustard, some celery seed, a couple of chopped boiled egg and salt and pepper to taste.  I forgot to add chopped celery and may or may not add it in the morning.

  While I was peeling, chopping, and stirring, my thoughts turned towards past easter meals and summertime get together's.  Easter, memorial day, or just a summer Sunday all blur together in my memory.  Scents and tastes bring back memories for me faster than almost anything else.   Cinnamon and apples with a hint of green beans and I'm at my Grandma Quicks.  The thought of potato salad, warm rolls, and coolers of pop in the garage put me into Grandma Burks house on any given summer Sunday. 

  I realized tonight that I try to recreate those memories which mean the most to me.  It plays out in little things, like always having a veggie tray to snack on before the big meal is ready.  Or, feeling it is compulsory to have an easter egg hunt to make Easter complete for the kids.  Tonight I put the potato salad into a clear glass pyrex dish with white flowers on the outside and it felt almost like bringing my whole past of celebrations to my family.

They can't experience the baseball games in Grandma's, now the Wheat's, backyard.  The girls won't fall asleep while the dads and uncles watch baseball and talk about Caterpillar, gas prices and other local news.   There won't be an impromptu hymn sing because Grandma asks us to sing something or someone hummed a tune and someone else joined in with words.  It won't be hot tomorrow and there won't even be a ham.  There will be Little Debbie Cakes, a basket of goodies for the grown ups, and there will be potato salad.

 Time passes so quickly and all too soon I will be the grandma.  I wonder what memories my daughters will treasure and what they will try to recreate for their families?  Most of all I am thankful for those memories.  Thankful for cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents that truly are a wonderful family.  I am not sure why God has spread us so far apart and I look forward to August, when on one side many of us will gather together to celebrate a new family forming.    Tomorrow I will set out the veggie platter, make a pot of green beans, and watch the girls look for Easter eggs and remember to give thanks again.