Have you ever noticed how a simple task can bring a memory into your mind? Tonight I was cutting up some peaches my sweet mother-in-law gave me. They are really ripe, and need to be taken care of tonight or they would spoil. I put some water on the stove to boil the peaches in. This makes it really easy to skin the peach. You plop the peach into almost boiling water, wait a few minutes, pull the peach out, put it in cold running water, and the skin almost falls off in you hand. And you are left with a beautiful, shinny skinless peach. This is very useful when you are bottling peaches.
Anyway, as the peaches were boiling, my mind raced back to the first time I remember having a peach that way. I think I was about 5-6 years old... I'm pretty sure it was when my family lived in Arizona. My parents were in the kitchen bottling peaches. My dad was boiling and peeling peaches, while Mom was cutting and putting the peaches in the bottles, I think...again, I may have been younger than 5, the timeline is a little fuzzy for me. Dad would peel a peach and hand it to me. The peach would still be warm on the outside but cold on the inside. I remember marveling at the differences in taste the peach had. I LOVED it! It seemed to me that Dad would peel a peach for bottling, and then we would eat a peach. It was so much fun. I'm sure I was totally in the way, but I'm glad to have that memory to Cherish.
Every time I eat fresh peaches I think about that day.
I really have missed my dad this week. He was my go to guy. With Allen in school, I always knew that I could call my dad if anything broke. In my mind, if my daddy can't fix it, it can't be fixed! LOL! Like when I totalled the van. I did call Allen, but I knew he wouldn't be able to do anything to help, he was still in class. Then I called my dad. Dad to the rescue! :)
So, this week when first the toilet in the master bathroom sprung a leak, flooding the bathroom and then the van started having problems I really felt how far away my dad is. 10 hours difference! Luckily, we caught the leak before it flooded our room! And some kind folks jumped the van, so I was able to get home to charge the battery. We now think that we just need to replace the battery not the alternator. YEAH! When the van wouldn't start on Wednesday, the panic I felt wasn't so much about the car not starting as it was how can I fix the problem when Dad is so far away!
Mostly, I miss having him call and invite us to dinner. Or to be able to call him at work and say: "Hey Dad! What do you want to do for dinner?" And we would brainstorm a plan. It's just not the same without him there: not taking much, but pleased to see his family around him. I miss asking him questions about getting ready to take the Fundamentals of Engineering exam and going to engineering association meeting with him. I miss how Riley loved to pal around with Papa and seeing Riley shadow Grandpa's every move. They are very close. I guess, it hit me as I was cutting up the peaches, that I miss my dad, and he is so very far away.
Have you ever noticed how a simple task can bring a memory into your mind? Tonight I was cutting up some peaches my sweet mother-in-law gave me. They are really ripe, and need to be taken care of tonight or they would spoil. I put some water on the stove to boil the peaches in. This makes it really easy to skin the peach. You plop the peach into almost boiling water, wait a few minutes, pull the peach out, put it in cold running water, and the skin almost falls off in you hand. And you are left with a beautiful, shinny skinless peach. This is very useful when you are bottling peaches.
Anyway, as the peaches were boiling, my mind raced back to the first time I remember having a peach that way. I think I was about 5-6 years old... I'm pretty sure it was when my family lived in Arizona. My parents were in the kitchen bottling peaches. My dad was boiling and peeling peaches, while Mom was cutting and putting the peaches in the bottles, I think...again, I may have been younger than 5, the timeline is a little fuzzy for me. Dad would peel a peach and hand it to me. The peach would still be warm on the outside but cold on the inside. I remember marveling at the differences in taste the peach had. I LOVED it! It seemed to me that Dad would peel a peach for bottling, and then we would eat a peach. It was so much fun. I'm sure I was totally in the way, but I'm glad to have that memory to Cherish.
Every time I eat fresh peaches I think about that day.
I really have missed my dad this week. He was my go to guy. With Allen in school, I always knew that I could call my dad if anything broke. In my mind, if my daddy can't fix it, it can't be fixed! LOL! Like when I totalled the van. I did call Allen, but I knew he wouldn't be able to do anything to help, he was still in class. Then I called my dad. Dad to the rescue! :)
So, this week when first the toilet in the master bathroom sprung a leak, flooding the bathroom and then the van started having problems I really felt how far away my dad is. 10 hours difference! Luckily, we caught the leak before it flooded our room! And some kind folks jumped the van, so I was able to get home to charge the battery. We now think that we just need to replace the battery not the alternator. YEAH! When the van wouldn't start on Wednesday, the panic I felt wasn't so much about the car not starting as it was how can I fix the problem when Dad is so far away!
Mostly, I miss having him call and invite us to dinner. Or to be able to call him at work and say: "Hey Dad! What do you want to do for dinner?" And we would brainstorm a plan. It's just not the same without him there: not taking much, but pleased to see his family around him. I miss asking him questions about getting ready to take the Fundamentals of Engineering exam and going to engineering association meeting with him. I miss how Riley loved to pal around with Papa and seeing Riley shadow Grandpa's every move. They are very close. I guess, it hit me as I was cutting up the peaches, that I miss my dad, and he is so very far away.
1 comment:
Jessica, I remember the day when e did peaches. You eat so many peaches that you had a belly ache. This story made me cry and I know it made your dad homesick. Thank you for the wonderful memories that you are sharing with us.
Love Mom
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