Jill's Journal: Mom, me and our kitchen table memories
It’s been three years since my mom sadly passed away from stage 4 lung cancer. That’s three Thanksgivings and three Christmases without her now. Thanksgiving and Christmas are the two holidays that I was able to stay with her for multiple days at a time, more if Christmas came just before or right after a weekend.
As a single woman with no kids of my own, I looked forward to my holiday or weekend visits there, and the hours – yes hours – we spent at her kitchen table.
This morning, with the TV serving as background noise, I heard the co-hosts on The View share their stories about having a drink with their own mothers. And that’s what kindled my thoughts this week.
Mom and I shared many a meal – and drinks – at that table. We cried and we laughed. We peeled potatoes for the pot, wrapped gifts for the great-grandkids, completed paperwork that needed completing. We frosted cookies and cut up vegetables. We solved problems, and yes, we created a few problems there, too. I often wrote news stories on my laptop there. We talked on the phone, watched the morning, noon and evening newscasts there. We read the local newspaper there. We opened the mail there. We folded laundry and sometimes, we just sat in complete silence there or watched the world outside of the kitchen windows.
Mom’s kitchen table, for whatever reason, was the hub of her house.
I’m not going to lie, I miss those days. Especially during the holidays. While I have family and friends to share these days with, it’s just not the same.
When we sold her home months after her passing, it was largely up to my brother and me to sort through a lifetime of possessions. There were drawers and boxes and closets to search through. We did our best to keep the things that tugged at our heartstrings and to donate, share, pass on and even toss things that no longer had a practical use.
The one item, however, that remained in the home when we sold it, was Mom’s kitchen table. While the table itself, was nothing special, it was the happenings at the table that are most valued and will hopefully stay with me for a lifetime. I was told the new family that took ownership of the home just happened to have a need for a kitchen table. I’m glad we could give them that. And I hope, that they, too, will make their own memories at Mom’s kitchen table that will last them a lifetime.
