Today I am my mother and my grandmothers. I'm even my former mother-in-law. I'm in the kitchen preserving food. I can hear and see my mother doing the same thing. I think of her as I peel tomotoes, cut corn off the cob, cut okra and oven blanch it for frying using her "secret" method. I close my eyes and smell the fresh beets grandaddy grew and grandmother canned. They smelled like the earth they came from. When she finished, they were immersed in sweet and sour pickling liquid. The color was that of jewels - the ruby red of my precious ring lost forever.
I wonder as I work, what will my children and grandchildren do in their lives that will make them think of me? What is that one thing that they will find themselves in the midst of when the thought comes to them that this is just like Mama did... I find myself with those thoughts a lot lately. Maybe its age, maybe its living in the mountains - a simpler life - like my grandparents and parents. I know, without a doubt, that whenever Riley says "Actually...." he will smile and remember how we laughed at the number of times a day he and I say it without thinking! Beyond that, what will be my legacy? I'll never know. I'm sure Mama didn't think sweating over corn and tomatoes would bring her memory so close to me. I'm glad I had hard working women in my life. I hope my children will, at least, remember that about me, too.
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