by Cat Hannon
My last memory of you –
The nurse ripping the pain patch from behind your ear.
Pain crossed your face – the crinkle and frown, burnt into my memory.
I felt your pain as you faded from this world.
Within the hour, you and Grandma would be reunited…
Finally, and forever.
You taught me so much:
Cooking, tradition, dreaming, romance, how to love.
That family isn’t always blood –
Friends should be valued,
Treasures they be.
I miss you.
I miss our time –
Brahms, Beethoven, and jazz rattling the windows from the stereo.
Living in Chicago, tales of romancing Grandma,
Your love letters to her, such expressions of dedication to each.
Your spaghetti sauce-bloody-apron-police story made me giggle,
Murder charges pending…till Grandma pulled up in the taxicab.
Cooking for you, the recipes you made for me so long ago.
My pleasure to return the favor of nourishment and love.
Julia Child, Emeril (Bam!), PBS, Food Network.
Our brainstorming on how to make a recipe just right, full of flavor.
Love being our secret ingredient in all our dishes.
Your coaching during my first Thanksgiving.
That twenty-nine-pound bird barely fit in my decrepit oven,
Your advice to make it work, invaluable.
Juiciest bird ever,
With crispy, tanned skin,
My spiked cranberry sauce – your favorite.
You have influenced my life.
It has taken me forty years to apply what I have learned.
You showed me through actions as well as words:
How to love,
How to live,
How to be.
Thank you, gentle sir,
For all things big and small.
For all things unspoken…
Memories.
With much love…
From me to you.
Category: Featured, Poetry, SNHU Creative Writing, SNHU Student