Chalk and Cheese Chronicles

Tea for three (generations)

Today was a day for the ladies, a day to savor a few moments of tea with my mother and grandmother.

The rain poured down.

Huddled next to warm yellowed walls and forget-me-nots on teapots, we sat, stopping time, three generations, together.

Tiny, tender greens.

The aroma of tea steeped to perfection.

Savory delights.

And Sweets.

We are making tomorrow's memories, smiles my grandma, her eyes tearing a bit.

I smile back, shy with sudden emotion.

We chat, we munch, we share. 

At home, boys run circles around Grandpa.

Tea cups leap out of memories, from cupboards of the past. 

We are linked, we three.

Alive at the same time.

Scones disappear in a puff of clotted cream, leaving us wanting more.

Always more.

Original post to Chalk and Cheese Chronicles.

Missing Teddi

My mother-in-law passed away a year ago yesterday. I miss her. She passed away just weeks into her retirement, her former life packed away in boxes in anticipation of happy move to a new home in a desert town. We'd planned to visit her soon, hoping to sample her life while scary mutant jackrabbits raced in the background. I know she enjoyed hearing me talk about my boys and she put up with a bit of bragging which I unleashed because, well, you can only brag about your kids to grandma. She was intellectual and funny, and I loved her cooking. Sometimes I think she's still here, that I can pick up my 6 year old cell phone and ring her number and reach her, as I always did on that phone. My boys remember her, they do. And as that memory starts to fade, they need not look any farther than at their own father to catch a glimpse of Grammy Teddi. She's there, in his expressions, in his salt and pepper hair and partly, in his outlook on life. It's uncanny at times. "Whoa, that's your mom!" I say.

Grammy Teddi, we love you dearly.

Original Chalk and Cheese Chronicles blog post. Read my post about my boys' experience at the service on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog.