That is a very nice column.
I've decided that finding comfort and happiness in the tangible stuff is okay, too.
Of course it is-- and the reason is, that it has nothing at all to do with the material quality-- what she is taking comfort is not what she's valuing at all. The love her husband showed in buying her that Easy Bake Oven or that Croc's hubby showed cramming that wood in, is just as intangible as the child's laugh-- and as tangible as whatever MADE the child laugh.
I had an Easy Bake Oven though, and those little teeny cakes were better than anything I've ever eaten before or since. Probably because I I I made them, with my mother helping.
The day before Thanksgiving I decided to make an Apple Cake for the feast. I wore an apron my mother had made me 25 years ago, and the recipe was my sister-in-law's for a cake that she sent to us every Christmas for years, and I was using my mother's cakepans, and I had gotten out the Christmas music that I always listen to every year in a certain order. I started to cry into the batter, as the continuity and the connections, the way we live on even after we are separated or die, touched me. I was so overwhelmed I rushed to the computer to send an e-mail to my brother telling him how wonderful it all was.
Neither he nor Carole has responded which makes me think maybe they just raised their eyebrows and thought-- hmm, she's drinking and cooking again. |
