History In This House

This week is All About Family, and whenever we all gather, it often brings back memories. My strongest memories in this place, of my dad, involve him in his blue comfy chair! Mom? oh, has to be the kitchen.

Without even thinking about it, I can picture mom, at the counter... making pasta sauce, baking bread. Mom, making, jams, jellies, cookies, or cakes. Mom, stuffing grape leaves, or stuffed shells. Stuffing peppers, or stuffed eggplant. Mom's recipes numbered in hundreds. Some, passed down from her grandmother's grandmother. Some, newly discovered, or made.

To this day, we have a half dozen cookbooks with family recipes, family pictures and family secrets, too! I've made copies for my two girls. And Like last night, or this afternoon, now, I see my girls, in the kitchen, too. Alongside me, cooking. Alongside Yia Yia, mine, and Yia Yia, their's, also known as my mom! I see those memories, too, in my eyes when I close them tight. I hear the sounds of baking dishes, and the sink. I hear the opening and closing of drawers, and oven door, and I think of all the meals that went into making this house a home!