Memories...

There are certain things that will forever remind me of my mom.

• My mom always had Trident gum in her purse. In fact, her purse sort of smelled like Trident gum and coins.
• She always wore Secret Fresh Powder deodorant and that was really the only scent that she wore. I actually can’t wear that same deodorant because the smell of it reminds me so much of my mom, but the smell is very comforting to me.
• Christmas reminds me of my mom for many reasons. For starters, besides Mother’s Day, the month of December is when my mom got all of her yearly gifts. Her birthday, wedding anniversary, and, of course, Christmas, are all in December. Not only that, but my mom loved Christmas trees and holiday traditions. She would get really excited about the Christmas kid movies/shows that were on TV every year and we would all sit down with a candy cane to watch the Christmas specials. Also, my mom baked tons of cookies. She had some really great German cookie recipes from her mom that nobody else around would make, so she always had a great variety. She would make gift boxes of cookies for all the neighbors and for members of her family.
• Almost every time I go to a garage sale I think of my mom. We went to so many when I was younger. My mom would get the newspaper, circle the sales she wanted to go to, and that is how we would spend our Friday mornings in the summer.
• My mom loved to have afternoon coffee with a little bit of chocolate. She loves Russell Stover’s chocolate. Sometimes, if we were going to town, she would bring a cup of coffee in the car. As this was before the days of ‘to go’ coffee she would put it in a regular coffee mug. Sometimes, when I got old enough, it would be my job to hold the cup so that it wouldn’t spill as we went over the bumpy gravel road.

These thoughts are just on my mind as I am realizing that Trynica is starting to remember things. What will she remember about me? I am realizing that when she is 27 years old some of her favorite things might be her favorites because they were things that I really like right now. I love Russell Stover’s chocolate, garage saleing, and everything about Christmas. She might love Jelly Belly’s for the rest of her life because I love them and we eat them a lot together. She will probably love Christmas because I love Christmas and she loves to get excited about whatever I am excited about. Tryn will probably always lover her birthday because my mom always made a big deal about my birthday. Tryn talks about her birthday all the time and her next birthday won’t be for another six months. Of course, this carries on to Berlin too, but it is more prevalent with Tryn right now because she is remembering. In 25 years from now, what will she remember and be comforted by thinking about memories of me? This is really strange for me to think about…