Sweet Memories

This morning Pook asked me if we could make muffins - with pink icing. I stopped, looking at her, thinking of all the thoughts already on my mind, all the things I "had" to do, and then I said, "Yes."

"Let's get our aprons on Mommy! What do we need? Flour? Sugar?

Slowly, methodically, I tied on our aprons. I looked for various recipes, telling her the ingredients - flour, wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, milk eggs. We add the dry ingredients to the white bowl, and with a wooden spoon, she mixes them, humming and smiling. I prep the pan, defrost the raspberries, and drain the juice, which will make our icing pink. We mix the wet ingredients in with the dry, prep the batter, and spoon it into the pan. There is leftover, so I take one of her tiny bread pans and fill it. In the oven it goes.

By now, she's done. I mix the cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar, adding the raspberry juice to create a pink icing.

"Mommy, will the muffins be pink or brown after they cook?"

"Guess we'll have to wait and see," I tell her and smile.

The icing is done, and in the fridge it goes. I gather the bowls, spoons, cups and things into the sink. I use the lavender scented dish washing soap, inhaling deeply while I wash with the lathered water. I look down at the bowls. I am holding one that is white glass on the inside, orange on the outside. The orange is scraped a bit, but I smile fondly.

It is part of a set of baking bowls my grandmother used.

Carefully I wash the orange and yellow one, sitting them in the tray to dry. I finish up the other dishes and turn off the water. With a soft towel, I begin to dry the orange bowl, stopping to notice the scrapes. I sit the small blue one inside it when I'm done. Then, I work on the yellow one, which I'll place inside the olive green bowl before adding the orange and blue.

My heart is full. My mind has been heavy with thought over the last day, and now, it is resting, light with the joy that I'm baking muffins, as my grandmother did when she was alive, honoring her by using her baking bowls that need to be hand washed.

Who knew that blue, orange, yellow, and green could bring a smile to my lips and song to my heart? Maybe I need to make muffins more often.