My Mojo

Clearly I’ve lost my mojo.

It has been months since I’ve posted; I feel as though I just don’t have much to talk about anymore. I’ve covered everything there is to cover…and I’m tired over going on and on about the wonders of my life.

My life is pretty darned amazing right now.

But it’s also life. 

You know…

I still clean toilets and some days drag on and on and I worry about my weight and get cranky with Roy when I shouldn’t and impatient with Jace when I should but really shouldn’t and wonder if I don’t give enough and …

Well, lots more ands.

My life is like most everyone’s: it’s just life.

A good life.

But life nonetheless.

But today I saw something that I remembered…oh yeah! My blog…

And I thought, I just need to start again. I need to write again.

Because, even if nobody reads this –I enjoy my blog. It centers me and reminds me that life is beautiful and worth living. That it’s the little things that create meaning.

And today? Well today a little thing happened.

And that’s what I want to tell you about.

It’s the Fourth of July today. And can I just say, I love the holidays—all of the holidays. Red, white and blue, homemade ice-cream, and firecrackers lighting up the sky are the hallmarks of this particular holiday in my mind (and probably most everyone else’s). 

We have family that lives on the north side of Fort Worth, and so we all (as in Lori, Tami and Chas, Cass, Court and Matt (Cass’s boyfriend) loaded up in a couple of vehicles with our potato salad, watermelon, veggie meatballs, and corn on the cob and headed over to Stephen and Robin’s home. My precious Aunt Muggsy was there as well as she only lives a couple of miles away from Steven (her son) and Robin.

Steven smoked a brisket and Robin cooked up far more food than I can list here; we ate and laughed and talked and explored their gorgeous home and just had the best of times.

Several hours later, we loaded to head back home and Aunt Muggs said, “I gave Lori a couple of yellow bags with some stuff from your grandma. She’s supposed to share it with you – you’ll like it.”

Now let me just say, my Grandma Nick? I miss her. I miss her every day.

She passed away in 2000 so she’s been gone quite a long time, but I still think of her often. Grandma just had a way about her – she was so easy to talk to and the best cook and … well, she was just grandma and everything that word entails.

So when Aunt Muggs said she had some of Grandma’s items to share…oh my word.

It made me smile from the inside.

After we’d been home for a bit and crashed for a couple of hours in a food stupor, Tami and I headed over to Lori’s to take a much-needed walk. And just before we loaded up to head backhome, Lori said, “Do you want to see what Aunt Muggs sent over?”

And there on Lori’s table, surrounded by wadded up newspaper and a couple of yellow bags, were some of Grandma’s most prized dishes -- the kind of dishes that were brought out on special occasions; that spelled Grandma.

Six dessert plates, a candy dish, a special bowl, and a butter dish were on display. “What do you want?” Lori asked.

My eyes immediately went to the candy dish. I well-remembered candy corn hanging out in that dish on Christmas Day. I could see my six-year-old self in my mind’s eye, carefully picking one up, my stringy blonde hair in my face, nibbling off just the bottom color of the candy corn and chewing it slowly; then biting off the next bit of color; and then popping the rest of it in my mouth, savoring it slowly.

(Because that’s how I ate when I was six…slowly.)

And so, of course, the candy dish is mine now. I placed it carefully in my china cabinet to patiently wait until the next holiday when I will bring it out and fill it up.

And who knows…

Maybe I’ll fill it with candy corn. 

And maybe, just maybe, I’ll nibble off the bottom part, savoring it slowly; and then the next little bit of color, until I’ve eaten the entire piece.

And if I do, I’ll remember Grandma Nick…

With a smile.