It’s the Little Things

Every day some little thing reminds of my dad and how much I miss him. Yesterday morning, it was pancakes sizzling in the frying pan. When we were growing up on Nutt Road, if you smelled pancakes, you knew Dad was cooking.

These are buckwheat pancakes that I made for my breakfast. Dad’s specialty was putting either corn or pineapple into his pancakes. So yummy!

Several food items remind me of my dad, including pot roast (with carrots and potatoes) cooking in a crockpot, corn on the cob, and pie. Dad loved pie. And chopped apple cake? I have my Grammy’s (Dad’s mom) chopped apple cake recipe and Dad loved to make that himself. He was really quite a good cook, although in later years I think his taste buds were dimming because he became very heavy-handed with the onion and garlic.

Here are some more “little things” that remind me of my dad:

• Looking at a road map
• Crops growing in a field
• The smell of rain
• Looking at a seed catalog
• A sea shell
• Hearing a George Jones song on the radio
• Writing down the gas mileage after filling up the gas tank
• Square dancing
• Checking the weather report
• Husking an ear of corn
• Taking my vitamins
• Seeing my granddaughter’s blue eyes

I hope my newest grandbaby, Hurricane Giblet, has those same blue eyes. In some ways, my grieving has been made easier with the knowledge of a new grandchild coming so soon upon Dad’s death. It is comforting to know that some small part of him will continue forward into another generation and I can look for small ways in which this new baby will remind me of Dad. I felt much the same comfort when Charles was born just a year and a day after Bill’s dad’s death. That is one of the magical things about babies, seeing reminders of those we loved in those we love.