Lemonade

Originally written Monday, December 19, 2005

Maybe it's just me but, have you noticed that we can all experience the same event, share the same facts, and yet come away with a different impression.

I remember growing up at the Daly St house and we would be next door with Mama Maria. Joseph and I would be playing in the dirt with her masetas. We'd take those little clay flower pots and pack in the dirt then, turn it over and begin building our fort or town or whatever.

The days were bright and hot and the dirt was black and cool and I remember thinking that if I left the pot full of dirt sitting in the sun it would bake it, making it a much stronger structure.

Mama Maria had lots of masetas around the back porch, but there were just a few that we could play with. She had these starter pots which she used for the geraniums which already lined the side of the house along the driveway, the back fence and of course on the side where "Franky" used to live. There were the times when she would want to transfer from the pot to the ground some of these geraniums and she would have us loosen up the soil and then dig a little hole and shake 'em out to plant. Then of course the fun part, watering ! I remember the little black shoes she always used to wear and how they would get all muddy. She didn't mind, she was busy beautifying her house and having fun watching just how dirty we could get.

Sometimes we would go over to uncle Charlies house, of which I have very little memory of except for all the masetas and geraniums he too had growing on what seemed like countless shelves on a slope. We would have some lunch and then walk out back and I can only guess that Mama Maria would be giving uncle Charlie advice on how to improve some of his plants. I was busy running around and playing with all his small gardening tools, immediately finding the nearest patch of dirt to start digging. One very hot afternoon of visiting, I remember walking back towards the house, exhausted from the hard work of playing in the dirt. Everyone was sitting in a semi circle, Mama Maria was seated fanning herself with that fan she always had, mom and aunt Susie were on either side of her, pop and charlie were standing and charlie was taking off his hat and wiping his brow. Everyone looked a little green from the sunlight through corrugated plastic that was over the patio and they were all drinking lemonade.

I walked up to mom and told her I was thirsty and aunt Susie said, come here, I'll get you something to drink and she took me by the hand and into the kitchen. She picked me up at the sink and washed my hands all the while talking to me about how busy I was and what a hard worker I will grow up to be. She poured a small glass for me and put a couple of cookies next to it. This had to have been the first time i had ever tasted this stuff, and when I found out you could add sugar !! That's all I needed to know, forget the cookies aunt Susie, bring me more lemonade and that bowl of sugar!

In hearing the news about our aunt Susie, I wasn't sad or reminiscent, i simply marvelled that we have been so lucky to have been born and raised by a family such as ours. Though miles separate many of us, there is still a close bond of which I have not seen or experienced in any other family.

As you know, lately we have been experiencing extreme cold here in Denver however, the forecast for this week we will be in the mid-50's by the weekend. I think that will be just warm enough for me to go out and find a maseta and a geranium to plant in it.

I'll probably cry when I drink the lemonade.

Thanks Aunt Susie.