Strawberries
By Doug Boilesen, August 26, 2019
Mom wasn't a collector -- but she did
keep all of her Christmas cards and birthday cards and she enjoyed
her collection of strawberry plates...she also loved strawberry shortcake.
Through the years it seemed natural
to give her birthday cards with strawberries and related strawberry
ephemera. Years later there are still a few who associate strawberries
and Betty.
This year on Mom's birthday my sister
invited three friends for lunch. It would have been Mom's 95th. Since
Mom knew these friends Sister Bev (as I like to call her (1))
decided to get out some strawberry plates for serving the food on
and to use strawberry napkins that mom had purchased . "Yes,"
said Bev, "I still have some of the napkins that were in her
cupboard."
It was a fun way to remember Mom and
it added a special element for a group of friends getting together
for lunch, each of whom had probably had lunch with Mom at some time
during those years on Lyncrest Drive.
Memory is an interesting thing. There
are objects and sounds and places that have special trigger powers.
I'm glad my sister included Mom's strawberry
napkins and strawberry plates for her lunch because I believe what
Barbara Kingsolver said is true: It's surprising how much memory
is built around things unnoticed at the time.
