I stand in the kitchen on Easter morning preparing stuffing for the turkey I will roast later today. I use a simple recipe–not a recipe at all really–just a mixing of the same ingredients that my mom, and her mom before her, used.
It’s been thirty years since I had stuffing prepared by my mom. Over the course of those thirty years I have prepared a multitude of turkey dinners complete with stuffing and all of the trimmings. Every time I prepare the stuffing Mom is in the kitchen with me and a melancholy falls over me as I miss her presence in my life and grieve for the lost years.
The hands I see mixing the dry bread crumbs with chopped onion, melted butter, sage, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper, are her hands. I wonder when my hands became hers. A piece I wrote a few years ago comes to mind. I thought I’d share it here today.
I wish for you a happy and blessed Easter. He is risen! He is risen, indeed!
I appreciate that you include a recipe made with bread along with an homage to the Bread of Life–Happy Easter to you too!
Ah…I didn’t realize the connection between the bread in the stuffing and the Bread of Life, Marian. Thanks for pointing it out!
So many of my endeavors entail nostalgia. I hear my mother’s voice when I talk with my children & grandchildren; I feel her presence when I fuss over a messy closet; I delight in her tenderness when I’m feeling blue. I love that your mother’s hands are never far from yours.
A blessed season of new beginnings to you!
The circle of life . . . amazing, and sometimes bittersweet, isn’t it, Kathleen. Blessings to you and yours as well.
Dear Linda, I wonder if you’ve ever read “Kitchen Table Wisdom” by Rachel Naomi Remen. I think that book would so speak to you. Peace and a blessed Easter season.
I don’t think I have, Dee. I’ll check it out. Thanks for the recommendation.