“Where’s the gravy?” my husband Steven called out to me.

I went into the kitchen to see Steven and our son Alex pulling Thanksgiving leftovers from the refrigerator and piling the containers on the counter.

“You didn’t throw it away again, did you?” Steven looked worried as he moved Tupperware around on the shelves.

“Are you ever going to let me live that down!” I cried as I reached in the back of the refrigerator and handed him the container of gravy.

“Wow, that was close.” Steven popped open the lid and smiled as he looked inside.

“I accidentally threw it away ten years ago!” I couldn’t help but shake my head. “Maybe we could let it go now.”

“If you don’t have gravy you might as well throw all the leftovers away.” he said to Alex as they pulled out plates and began loading them with their mid-morning dinner. Then he looked over at me. “If I remember correctly you blamed your sister for throwing it out.”

“Of course I did!” I had to laugh. “When I saw how upset you were, do you really think I’d take the blame?” I looked over at Alex for help. “She’d already left.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I had no idea he’d call her and ask why she threw it away.”

Steven looked at Alex. “It was gravy.” he said as if that’s the only explanation he needed.

“Well anyway…” I wanted to change the subject. “It’s the Friday after Thanksgiving and we all know what that means.” I smiled at both of them. “Can you two help me get the Christmas decorations down from the attic?”

Alex and Steven looked at one another then at their filled plates.

“Oh, come on!” I cried. “I’m the one who does all the decorating. I’m the one who climbs into the attic, all you have to do is grab the containers as I lower them down to you!”

Alex looked at Steven. “She has a point.” He put his plate in the microwave and started it. “Let’s get this over with before we eat.”

The followed me into the hall and I pulled the stairs down. “I’ll be quick!” I said as I climbed up the stairs and began looking around. “Whoa…it’s a mess up here!” I called down. “Just give me a second while I move a few things out of the way.” I began crawling around pushing boxes around trying to make some sort of order out of the mess.

I’d been up there a bit when I finally found all the Christmas containers and began pushing them over to the opening. “Okay, I’m ready!” I called down to them. I didn’t get an answer. I moved the boxes away and looked down at the hallway but neither one was there. I climbed back down to look for them. “Hello!” I called as I went back into the kitchen. They were both at the dining room table eating their leftover Thanksgiving. I put my hands on my hips a little bit annoyed that they left me up there. “Seriously?” I asked. “You couldn’t wait ten more minutes?”

Steven looked over at me and smiled. “Hey, we can’t help it if we love your turkey and stuffing.”

“And your turnips and potatoes!” Alex added. “The microwave went off and it smelled so good we couldn’t wait.” He held up the zip lock bag of pumpkin muffins. “Want one?”

I sighed as I filled the kettle with water and put it on the stove. “Sure, why not.” I sighed as I sat down with them. “But right after you’re done eating you’re going to help me right?”

“Promise.” they said in unison.

I was at work, getting ready to go on my lunch break, when my phone pinged that I had a message. Pulling it out of my pocket and saw that my son Alex had sent me a photo of a turkey followed by several surprised looking emoji’s.

I was completely confused until I realized the picture was taken in our yard. The three foot bird was sitting on our neighbor’s chain link fence next to where we stored our garbage pails.

As I was walking to the break room I called Alex. “Are you kidding me!” I cried when he answered.

“I know, pretty weird huh?”

“Is it still there?”

“Yup.”

“You’ve got to get rid of him!” I cried. “I don’t want them in the yard!”

For some strange reason turkeys showed up in our neighborhood the year before, but they’d been staying further down the street and hadn’t venture any closer to us…that is until today.

“Why get rid of him?” Alex questioned. “It’s so close to Thanksgiving I think it’s kind of fun to have our very own turkey living with us! So, what do you think they like to eat?” he asked. “Because I gave him some birdseed but he doesn’t seem interested.”

“WHAT!” I cried. “You fed him!”

` “Well, technically no, because he didn’t like the seed.” I could hear him opening and closing cabinets. “You’re really good about what the wildlife like to eat around here. Do you think I should cut up an apple or maybe throw out a handful of nuts?”

“Oh my gosh, DON’T FEED HIM!” I cried. “Do you know how aggressive they can get? I don’t want to become a prisoner in my own home when mating season starts!” I was trying to figure out a way for him to collect the birdseed he’d already thrown without getting hurt. I took a deep breath before I started telling him my plan. “Okay listen, I need you to get the broom and go outside swinging it around until you chase him off.”

But before I could finish Alex started to laugh.

Now I was confused. “What’s so funny?” I asked.

“You’re killing me here!” he cried.

I wasn’t sure what he was talking about but I decided that maybe I should approach the dilemma in a calmer voice. “Okay, I know it sounds scary chasing a turkey away but we can’t have him coming around.” I explained.

Alex couldn’t stop laughing. “Do you really think I’d feed a turkey?” he cried. “I don’t like when you feed the chipmunks because they come up on the deck. They’re only a few feedings away from coming into the house.”

“They are not!” I argued.

“Really, because one is on the deck right now looking at me while he eats whatever it is you left out there for him!”

“I haven’t fed the chipmunks in months.” I cried.

“Okay, so whatever he got from the woods he’s decided to enjoy eating it on our table.”

That was the reason I’d stopped feeding them. “Hey, they were cute when they were scampering in the yard but I have to agree with you, I don’t want them on the deck either.” I sighed. “But getting back to the turkey, is he still on the fence?”

“Naw…he left right after I took his picture.” he admitted. “I just thought it would be funny to hear what you’d have to say after I sent it to you.”

Now it was my turn to laugh. “Well, I hope I didn’t disappoint you.”

“Nope, you never do.”

I was knocking on our front door with my foot hoping someone would come open it for me. “Hello? Anybody?” I called as I tapped the door one more time, trying my best to stay out of the rain.

My son Alex opened it. “Did you forget your key?”

“No.” I held up my muddy hands. “But guess what I just found a ton of?” I was headed for the kitchen.

“Rocks?” Alex asked as he followed me to the sink.

“How did you know?” I was surprised that he’d get it on the first guess.

“I can tell by the big smile on your face.” He nodded to my muddy hands. “I’ve never seen someone so happy to be covered in dirt.” he laughed as he pointed to the sleeves of my coat, also covered in mud.

“I’ll throw it in the wash later.” I said as I dried my hands on a towel. “Can you help unload the car with me?”

“Can’t the rocks wait until it stops raining?” he looked out the window.

“Not the rocks.” I grabbed the roll of paper towels and headed for the front door. “I went to the grocery store and I didn’t want to get the bags all muddy.” I held up the paper towels. “I’ve got mud all over the steering wheel and door.”

He laughed as he flipped the hood of his sweatshirt on his head. “So where did you find all the rocks?”

“I was on my way to the store when I saw someone dumping a wheelbarrow filled with them!”

I jogged out to the car with him and climbed in my front seat while Alex began loading his arms with the bags. “Can you believe it?” I began wiping down my steering wheel. “A whole wheelbarrow, loaded with them!” I looked back at Alex and smiled. “How lucky am I!”

Alex grabbed the last bag and closed the door just as I was finished wiping down my door. “I hope I got everything I needed at the store.” I jogged ahead of him to open the door. “I was so worried someone was going to get the rocks before me that I did a pretty quick shopping trip.” I began scanning the bags as Alex put them on the counter. “I think I got everything.”

“So did the guy at the house see you loading his rocks into your car in the middle of a downpour?” Alex grabbed a bag of chips and began eating.

“Oh, he helped me pick through the pile to get the biggest ones and helped me load them in!” I began putting the groceries away.

Alex sighed then closed his eyes and shook his head. “Great. That’s just great.”

“What?” I was confused. “He was a really nice guy. They just moved in and he’s clearing out some of the land for a garden next spring.”

“Did you tell him you live in the neighborhood?” Alex didn’t sound thrilled.

“Of course I did. I told him what a great neighborhood it is.”

Alex laughed. “You know he went right into the house and told his family that there’s a crazy rock lady that lives around the corner from them.”

“I’m not crazy!” I cried. “I told him all about the rock path I’m making! He was very nice.”

Alex looked at the mud on my sleeves. “I’m telling you he’ll be talking about the crazy rock lady that showed up in a downpour and loaded her car with his worthless rocks.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “They’re not worthless to me.”

That’s when my husband Steven walked in. “What’s up?”

“Mom’s got a car load of rocks again.”

“Oh great! I’ll help you unload them when it stops raining.”

I looked over at Alex and smiled. “See. He gets me.”

I put my garden gloves on, grabbed a garbage bag from the drawer and looked over at my husband Steven. “I think it’s time I put my garden to bed.” I said as I opened the back door and went out on our deck.

Steven started to laugh as he filled his cup with coffee and followed me out the door. “Well, that shouldn’t take you too long when you only had four pots of cherry tomatoes!”

I picked up the first pot where one lone green tomato was clinging to the shriveled vine. “I used to have five pots at the beginning of the summer.” I reminded him. “Until that fat groundhog attacked them.” I pulled the plant out of the pot and tossed it into the trash bag. Then I walked to the edge of the woods and emptied out the rest of the dirt.

“He only got one plant?” Steven asked as I went over to get the hose and rinse the pot out before bringing it back to the deck to dry in the sun.

“Nope, he got three of them.” I pulled the next plant out and showed him where I’d Scotch taped the broken stem. “Who knew Scotch tape would work so well.” I looked closer at my taping skills. “I taped them back together as soon as I saw what he’d done.” I looked over at Steven and smiled. “I obviously did such a great taping job that I never had to replace any of it all season!” I was still smiling as I tossed the plant in the trash and moved on to the next plant. “It was like it had never been snapped in two!”

Steven just shook his head. “Well there’s a gardening tip you can pass along to your friends.”

“Exactly!” I put the last wet pot on the deck to dry then looked around to see if anything else needed to be done.

Steven looked at his phone. “Well that took you about ten minutes.” he laughed. “I think that’s the quickest I’ve ever seen someone put their garden to bed.”

I looked at him, a bit confused. “Who said I was done?” I went over and picked up my hand clipper. “I have to winterize my garden tools now.”

“You have a pair of hand clippers!” Steven laughed again. “That’s not really what you’d call garden tools.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m thinking of investing in a trowel next year.”

Steven just shook his head.

“And I’m also thinking about making it eight…no wait.” I thought about it for a moment. “Make that ten pots of cherry tomatoes next year!”

Steven looked at me for a moment. “You know, now that were getting the yard ready for winter maybe I should winterize the grill.”

“That’s a great idea.” I was rubbing the dirt off my clippers. “How do you do that?”

He put his coffee cup down, walked over to the grill, opened the drawer, and pulled out the grill cover. “I put this on it.” He shook it out before he draped it over the grill. Then he walked back over to his coffee cup, picked it up and took a sip. “As you can see my winterizing is even easier then yours.”

I had to smile. “Somehow I feel like you’re making fun of me.”

“What me?” he shook his head. “Never.”

My son Alex and I were out on our back porch enjoying a beautiful warm fall day. “I feel like I want to spend every minute outside when it’s like this.” I said as I felt the warm sun on my face. “I am NOT a big fan of winter.” I sighed.

“Really?” Alex started to laugh. “I’m pretty sure we all know that by the way you’ve been walking around the house moaning, ‘Winter’s Coming’ like you’re a cast member on the Games of Thrones.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Hey, I can handle some cold weather.” I argued. “I almost like a little winter for the holidays. But once it’s New Year’s day I’m done with the cold.”

Just then a monarch butterfly fluttered a few inches in front of us, landing on one of my geranium plants.

“Isn’t he beautiful!” I whispered. We watched as he climbed all over the plant looking for something to eat. “I’m just sorry he’s not going to find much to eat on that plant.” I sighed. My geraniums had been beautiful all summer long but they were beginning to look a little sad, with very few blooms left. “Poor thing has such a long trip ahead of him that I feel kind bad that I don’t have anything for him to eat.”

Alex and I watched him for a few more moments.

“You know he’s the fifth one I’ve seen today.”

I heard Alex laugh and when I looked over I could see him shaking his head. “Are you going to tell me that a long lost relative is visiting us again?”

“There’s that.” I looked over at the butterfly as it took off from the plant and fluttered into our neighbors yard. “But what I was really thinking about was planting a little patch of milkweed for them to eat.” I got up from my chair and walked down the steps to look around the yard. “Nobody wants to plant it anymore.” I called back to him.

“Maybe because it has the word ‘weed’ in it’s name.” Alex reasoned as he came over to where I was standing.

“No. It’s probably because it’s poisonous to pets.” I shrugged my shoulders. “That and if you get any of the sap in your eyes or on your skin it can give you a really nasty burn.”

Alex looked confused. “So you want to plant a poisonous weed in our yard?”

“Sure.” I was still scouting the back yard for a perfect spot. “That’s what makes it so perfect for the monarch. They eat it and build up the toxins and then no one wants to eat them!” I looked over at Alex and smiled. “How smart is that!”

Alex wasn’t convinced. “But it’s poisonous.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure you’re not going to eat it or rub it on your face, so I think you’re safe.”

“But wouldn’t feeding them be cheating?” he asked.

“Cheating?” Now it was my turn to be confused.

“Well, if you start feeding them then when you see one in the yard it won’t be a relative stopping by to say hi anymore it’ll just be a hungry butterfly.”

I thought about it for a moment. “I can get around that one.”

“How?”

“Doesn’t matter if they’re alive or a spirit. I’d offer food to anyone who comes to my house.” I looked over at Alex and smiled. “It’s the polite thing to do.”

It was first thing in the morning and I was running late but no matter how late it was, I needed to make our bed.

“So what’s your day look like?” I asked my husband Steven as I pulled the sheets back into place.

“I’m running around all day in meetings.” he said as he grabbed a pair of socks and his shoes and sat down on the bench at the end of the bed.

“You home for dinner?” I pulled up the blanket and folded the sheet over it.

“I should be.”

I reached over and picked up a piece of black lint from the blanket before pulling up the comforter.

“Great!” I looked closer at the black piece of lint that was now in the palm of my hand. “Oh good Lord!” I began shuttering and hopping from one foot to the other. “Noooooo….” I cried as I dashed into the bathroom to flush it down the toilet.

“What’s wrong?” Steven jumped up following me into the bathroom.

“Dead spider! Dead spider!” I held down the toilet handle and shuttered again as I watched it spin in the water before finally disappearing from sight. I couldn’t seem to stop shuttering. “It was in our bed. More importantly it was on MY side of the bed!”

“But you said it was dead.” Steven walked back to the bench to put on his other shoe.

“I found it dead.” I reminded him as I followed him back into the bedroom. “It was alive during the night when it was walking over me.” I felt another shudder come over me. “I wonder if it bit me before it died.”

Steven looked over at me. “Did you notice a bite when you were taking a shower this morning.”

“No.” I admitted. “But I didn’t know I was suppose to be looking for a bite.” I began feeling itchy all over. “Now I feel like I have bites all over me.”

Steven just shook his head. “It’s your imagination.”

I went over to the bed and began pulling the sheets off.

“What are you doing?” Steven asked as I walked around him and began tugging on his side of the bed. “Didn’t you just put those on the day before yesterday?”

“Are you kidding me!” I cried as I piled the blankets on the floor next to the bundled up sheets. “Everything has to get washed now or I’ll never get to sleep tonight!” I got on my hands and knees and looked under the bed. “What if it’s made a nest under here.”

“I think you’re going a little overboard.” Steven tried to reason with me. “You know spiders come into the house in the fall. You’re going to find a few of them over the next few weeks.”

“Around the house is fine.” I argued. “That’s one of the reasons they invented tissues. It’s an even fight. Sometimes the tissue wins and sometimes they get away.” Another involuntary shudder came over me. “But this one was in my bed.” I looked over at him. “While I was sleeping.” I cried. “It wasn’t a fair fight.”

“What are you talking about?” Steven countered. “You rolled over on him and killed him. He never saw that coming.”

I’d been pulling my pillowcase off my pillow when that statement stopped me for a moment. “Well that’s true.” I had to agree.

But then I thought about the dead spider resting in the palm of my hand only moments ago and I had to shake my head. “Nope! Spider in the bed, dead or alive means everything’s got to get washed.” I added the pillowcase to the growing pile of laundry.

“Hey, fine by me.” Steven shrugged his shoulders. “I love Clean Sheet Night.”

I was standing on our back deck, looking at our woods line when Steven came out. “What are you looking at?” he asked.

“The three morning doves eating under our feeder.” I said sadly.

“What’s wrong with them, they look cute.”

“Yesterday morning there were two couples under the feeder.” I pointed to the pile of feathers in the center of our yard. “Yesterday afternoon I heard all the crows and blue jays screaming and I came out and saw the Cooper Hawk sitting right in the middle of our lawn.” I looked over at Steven. “I thought I scared him away before he got anybody.” I sighed. “But I guess I didn’t.”

“Hey, it’s nature.” Steven said with a shrug.

“I know. But now she’s all alone and the other two are completely ignoring her!” I complained. We watched as the couple kept chasing the single bird away from them. “They’re being so mean.” I cried. “She’s just trying to have someone to eat with!”

Steven looked confused. “How can you tell it was the male that got caught?”

“I can’t really.” I admitted as I shrugged my shoulders. “I just assumed he was being chivalrous and was protecting her from the Cooper Hawk and paid dearly for being a gentleman.”

Steven looked over at me, a surprised look on his face. “Really?” he laughed. “You figured all of that?”

“Hey, they mate for life.” I reasoned. “No woman, human or bird is going to stick around with a guy who’s going to run and hide and leave her to face danger alone!”

Steven snorted a laugh. “So she’s just this helpless female that needs protecting?”

“Of course not!” I countered. “She was right by his side fighting too!”

“Wait a minute…” Steven held up hand for me to pause. “Didn’t you tell me you just saw the Hawk sitting on the lawn with all the other birds yelling at him?”

I was confused. “Yeah.”

“So where did this epic battle happen?”

“I don’t know.” I sat down on the stairs. “I was just saying.”

Steven sat down next to me and pointed to the feeder. “Don’t you think what really happened was they were both eating and the Hawk swooped in and then one of them was gone?”

“Of course it could have happened that way, but the way I tell it is much more romantic, don’t you think?”

Steven looked at me for a moment. “Is this your subtle way of asking me to tell you that if a giant raptor was coming after us I’d protect you?”

I thought about it for a moment. “Well…it didn’t start out the way.” I looked back at the single mourning dove and sighed. “But as a metaphor it’s actually nice to hear.”

Steven shook his head and laughed as he stood up and brushed off the back of his pants. “I’m going in to get a garbage bag and clean up the feathers.”

“Thanks.” I stood up next to him, giving him a quick kiss. “Can you bring the sunflower seeds with you? Maybe if I give them all an extra treat they’ll play nicely together.”  

My son Alex and I were out for a walk after dinner, the sun was just beginning to set and the sky was turning an amazing shade of pink.

“You know pretty soon were going to have to take our walks before dinner.” I sighed as I pulled the zipper of my sweatshirt up closer to my chin. “I hate when it gets dark so early.”

We both watched as a squirrel darted in front of us with an acorn in his mouth. He was headed to the flower bed of a neighbor’s where another squirrel was busy digging. “Did I tell you I caught another squirrel burying it’s acorns in my geranium pot?”

Alex shook his head. “No, you didn’t.”

“Yeah, I feel kind of sorry for him.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m going to be throwing the pots out once the first frost kills them.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I hope he’s got a back up plan and that’s not his only place he’s hiding his food.”

We both stepped over a huge pile of acorns someone had raked from their yard and placed at the curb. “It’s unbelievable how many oak trees are in this neighborhood.” I looked over at Alex. “Did you know each tree can drop as many as ten thousands acorns?”

Alex shook his head again. “Nope, I didn’t know that.”

We were now walking in front of a house that hadn’t raked their acorns yet. The sidewalk was covered. “It’s like walking on marbles.” I said as I slid my foot as if I were wearing ice skates so I wouldn’t slip and twist my ankle. “Walking uphill also gives it an added sense of adventure!” I lied as I really was worried I’d slip and fall.

“Remember last spring when the house across the street had a forest of baby oak trees in their front yard?” Alex asked. He seemed to be having an easier time walking then I was.

“How could I forget! I swear I think there were over a hundred trees.” I had to laugh. “There’s an example of a few squirrels forgetting where they buried dinner.”

We’d almost reached the top of the hill and could see the acorns were thinning out. “Phew, made it!” I announced as I stepped over the last acorn. “That’s another reason why I’m on team chipmunk and not squirrel.”

Alex laughed. “You just think chipmunks are cuter than squirrels.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “That’s true but they’re also smarter.” I argued. “Chipmunks store their nuts right in their burrow so, in the middle of a snowstorm, they can just reach over and get a snack.” I pointed to the frantic squirrels scampering around. “Squirrels on the other hand are running all over the neighborhood on a snowy day trying to figure out where they buried their next meal.” I shook my head. “They just don’t work as smart as chipmunks.”

“They seem to be doing alright.” Alex laughed.

We were getting ready to cross the street when a breeze came up causing dozens of acorns to fall from the tree directly in front of us. We listened to them clatter as they bounced off the sidewalk, some of them bouncing at least a foot back into the air before finally settling on the ground.

I looked over at Alex. “Have you ever had an acorn bounce off the top of your head?”

Alex shook his head no.

“It’s only happened to me once.” I gave the top of my head a sympathy rub remembering the time. “But I can tell you it really hurts.”

“I bet.” We both looked up at the tree to see if any more were coming. Alex adjusted his baseball cap. “I’m glad I’m wearing a hat.” He looked over at my hat-less head.

“Good idea!” I quickly pulled the hood of my sweatshirt up and tied it tight. “ Who knew it would be so dangerous walking out here tonight!”

I pulled into our driveway, left the car running and went up to the house. Opening the door I called to my husband, Steven. “My windshield wipers won’t go off!”

He came to the front door and looked outside. You could hear the screeching sound the rubber blades made as the scraped across the dry windshield.

“They just came on all by themselves?” Steven looked up at the cloudless blue sky.

“No, I turned them on. I wanted to clean the windshield but now they won’t shut off!” I shook my head, looking around the neighborhood to see if anyone was outside. “I’ve just spent the last twenty minutes driving home with them swishing back and forth! I felt like a crazy old lady who drives around not knowing her blinker is flashing!”

Steven climbed into the driver’s seat. “I’m sure no one noticed.” He flicked the wiper switch on and off.

But I wasn’t through with my rant. “I might was well have two cats climbing around in the car and a pocket full of hard candy!” I cried.

Steven laughed. “What?”

“People wait until you’re stopped at a light then pull up next to you and give the maybe-you-shouldn’t-be-driving-if-you’re-so-clueless look!” I shook my head and couldn’t help but shudder. “I felt like an idiot!”

Steven turned the car off. The wipers immediately stopped. “There. All fixed.”

“That’s what you call fixing it?” I pointed to the wipers that were now straight up in the air.

Steven turned the car back on and the wipers started up again only this time at their fastest speed.

“Oh, great.” I sighed.

“Don’t worry.” He climbed out of the car. “We’ll drop it off at the mechanic’s. Let me go grab my keys and I’ll follow you.” He left the car door open for me.

“Why do I have to be the one to drive the stupid car?” I cried.

“Seriously?”

I nodded my head. “Completely.”

“Why do you let this stuff bother you so much?” Steven sighed as he climbed back in the car and handed me my purse.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged my shoulders. “It just does.”

“Okay, fine. You drive my car and I’ll meet you over at the mechanic’s.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I smiled as I leaned into the car to give him a quick kiss. Steven just shook his head as he put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway.

“I’m right behind you!” I called as I listened to the frantic screeching of the wipers as he drove down the street. “Well, there’s one less embarrassing thing I have to do today.” I muttered to myself as I went back to the house to get his keys. That’s when I noticed water leaking from my purse. I looked in to see the water bottle I’d tucked in there was missing it’s cap. “Clearly this is going to be one of those days.” I sighed.

I’d just made myself a cup of tea, and was throwing away my teabag, when I noticed the empty peanut butter jar laying in the recycling bin. “We’ve started a new jar of peanut butter!” I cried.

My husband, Steven and son, Alex both gave me a confused look.

“I finished it last night.” Alex said. “Why?”

“So no one’s opened the new jar yet?” I was almost gleeful.

“I don’t know.” Steven went to the cabinet pulled out the new jar and handed it to me.

I slowly unscrewed the lid and saw the foil covering still intact. “Best day ever!” I cried as I peeled the foil off and looked at the smooth top of the peanut butter. “Do you know how happy this makes me?” I smiled at both of them as I set the jar down on the counter and went into the cabinet to get an English muffin. “When you grow up in a big family, like I did, it’s rare to have an untouched jar.” I explained as I popped the muffin in the toasted and slide the lever down. “When I was growing up the peanut butter jar always had crumbs or jelly in it.” I shuddered. “It was disgusting.” I leaned against the counter waiting for my muffin to be toasted.

“But our peanut butter jar never looks like that.” Alex argued. “I use a knife for the peanut butter and another knife for the jelly. I never mix the two.”

“I know.” I smiled at him. “That’s not the point. It’s the joy of a new jar that I’m talking about.”

Alex went into the cabinet and got out a box of cereal.

I pointed to the box. “Cereal was another thing that I only wanted to eat if it was a brand new box.”

“Why?” Alex took a bowl out of the cabinet.

“Because, back then, a lot of cereal had prizes in them.” Hearing the pop of the toaster I turned around pulled the muffin out, being careful not to burn my fingers.

“I remember that.” Steven said, he looked over at Alex. “They’d have all kinds of weird stuff. Nothing really great but everyone wanted it.”

“I’d come downstairs for breakfast, really looking forward to a bowl of Frosted Flakes and the bulging box would be open on the counter top. You’d just know, by looking at it, that someone was elbow deep digging around for that stupid prize.” I shuddered again as I spread the peanut butter on my muffin. “That would be the end of wanting to eat out of that box!”

“That is pretty gross.” Alex admitted.

“Oh that’s just the beginning.” I took my peanut buttered muffin to the table as Alex came over with his bowl of cereal. “Getting breakfast with seven kids running around was just crazy.” I shook my head.

“Well, don’t worry it’s not like that anymore.” Steven said, sitting down at the table to visit with us.

“Yeah.” Alex agreed. “I’ve stopped drinking right out of the milk container years ago!”

“What!” I could actually feel my stomach flip just thinking about it.

“Just kidding.” Alex laughed as he patted my arm to reassure me. “Just thought I’d bring back another childhood memory for you!”