Memories of Mom

I think about my mom a lot. Part of that is due to the way she died and how it was handled. Part of it is due to regret that I could not have seen her and told her that I loved her. I am not sure that she knew. We had our differences. The truth is, I did love her and I miss her very much. Sometimes, when I am cooking especially it seems, I think about her a lot. She loved to cook and she was an excellent cook. She could taste something and tell you what was in it. She did not scrimp on ingredients and if she knew you liked something, she would make it for you often. Like bread pudding and Italian cream cake. Like German Chocolate Cake, when I was a kid it was my favorite and she didn't use mixes. She made it all from scratch. I often think much of my mother's self-worth came from her cooking and I was always sure to praise her for her cooking. Fried eggplant. That was so good. Her meatballs were the best in the world, too. I have the recipes and while I am a good cook, she was a better cook. There is no doubt about that. She made great cole slaw and she would chop veggies for hours to make her 24-hour icebox slaw. It was so good and she got wonderful praise for it when we took it to Aunt Louise's 80th birthday. I have this great picture of mom and Aunt Louise from that day. They were very close. Mom is the one on the right. The picture got water spots on it, I'm not sure how, but we had a good time that day. It was shortly before I left to move to Ohio. I miss you, mom. I'll see you again one day. Thanks for everything you did for me.