The Big Guy got up a little later than I did today, which is very rare. Typically he's up at at 'em at least an hour before me. I'll make the bed and then wander into the kitchen ...yawning and scratching at my bits with the dog and at least one of the cats trailing behind me. They're probably yawning and scratching at their bits too.
Since his office is right below our bedroom, he can hear me as I open (or shut ...we do live in an area with weird weather) the sliding glass door next to the bed, and it's his cue to head upstairs to boil the water in the kettle for a pour-over coffee. I'm a lucky woman, he makes mornings so much nicer than the long ago days of running down the stairs, waking the kids and finding my way through the mess of video games, laptops and the occasional extra teenager on the couch when their bed was (as my daughter used to say) "too far to find or bother with."
We've abandoned the coffee maker in favor of traditional pour overs, since we usually indulge in a single cup of weak coffee or "brown, watery liquid". Such is the way of caring for the heart and the tummy in our "silver years".
But this morning?
It was two cup morning. Since I was up before the dawn (not really, but it felt like it ...and now I have Super Tramp running through my brain, so it's a time out for "Goodbye Stranger") I allowed myself to have a cuppa with The Big Guy.
As I prepared HIM a lovely pour over of brown liquid, erm, coffee, I spied the brownies I'd made and, unfortunately, burned in our convection counter top oven yesterday for our annual Memorial Day neighborhood gathering. Which, as it turns out, we're not going to because a few of our block partiers woke up feeling icky. I think it's the high pollen count, but who knows? In this age and time of "I don't have the 'vid, I'm a smoker" during a coughing fit, one has to be careful.
+++Side Note to all who have never made brownies in your counter top oven, check 'em after 20 minutes. It was my first time trying it out.+++
Anyway, as I was saying, my loving gaze landed on the small plate of whatever I could rescue from the brownie pit, and I dunked a half brownie into my second cup of coffee while The Big Guy finished stirring the cream in his first cup.
I looked at him across the kitchen, my mouth slightly filled with semi-decent chocolate crumbs and said, "I'm an adult, I can have a brownie for breakfast, right?"
He chuckled and agreed.
Smart man.
I took a picture for posterity since my iPad was near me.
I had quite suddenly, an image in my head of my dad grinning at me as he held a cookie from across a different kitchen in a time that feels as though it was a hundred years ago. He was drinking an iced tea and no, it wasn't spiked with anything. That was my mother's trick. But it was early in the morning, we were getting ready to head out for a day of gardening. He said, "Sarah, when you're all grown up, you can have iced tea and cookies in the morning all the time, but today is special. So you can have some too!"
It wasn't his birthday, it was Memorial Day, because as I recall it, we happily noshed our cookies and sipped our iced tea at the counter bar separating the kitchen from the den and then he put out his flag. We saluted together, and while I didn't understand at the time, it felt important. My pappy was on the USS Missouri when he was in the Navy, and he saw his fair share of catastrophe, losing friends in the process.
He never talked much about it, but I found one of his journals at my brother's house many years ago, and his written words are still a jumbled mess in my brain. How could someone recover from such horror?
I'm reminded also, of a line from "Lord of the Rings"
There are other forces besides the will of evil.
My dad was one of those forces. He went on to fight other battles, one of those was my mother. I'd laugh if it wasn't so true.
So on this day of days, when we remember those who have died in service of their country here in the United States, I salute my dad. While he didn't pass in the wars behind us, he taught me that I could indulge in the occasional brownie for breakfast, and do what I want, when I want ...with consciousness.
Isn't that a very big part of growing up? Using consciousness to evolve and create peace? Wherever my pappy is now, I sincerely believe that he would have approved of my morning and not mourning too much the horror he survived, while honoring those who didn't.
Thank you, so much, for reading and I always welcome your comments!
Take a look at @Labyrinths when you have a moment, and join our labyrinth community on HIVE if you're interested. We just started it, so there's not much going on yet, but if you're ever in the need for a "down to earth" (but not too earthy) psychic, you can find me online at Brigid's Aether.
Any images and graphics (unless noted) are mine.
