Although my mother physically left us more than twenty years ago, I still feel her presence. A day rarely goes by that I don't think of her for one reason or another.
Ten days ago it was because I posted this photo of her with my younger brother because it was his 70th birthday.
Back then being pregnant after your mid-thirties was considered high risk, but all went well. My sister and I were as delighted with a baby brother as mom was with another son.
There was something else familiar about this photo - the skirt she was wearing.
I remembered the red with white swirls matching skirts she made for Betty and me, but had forgotten that she made one for herself, too.
She either really liked the material or got a good deal on a bolt end. There were a few other times she dressed to match us, but it was not as often as she made the same matching outfits for the two of us.
And a week ago we had to get this new coffee maker. I got up that morning, switched on the previous one and nothing happened.
"Oh no! What am I going to do without my coffee?"
Improvise, that's what. I boiled some water, poured it through the coffee grounds and drank serviceable, if not great, coffee that day.
I don't need anything fancy. A basic Mr. Coffee does just fine.
The reason all that made me think of Mom was because I had been using her last coffee maker. I had kept it as a back-up in case my previous Mr. Coffee quit.
In addition to being much more than 20 years old, her's had been free with the purchase of Gevalia Kaffee. Her pot was black rather than the green shown here, but the same model.
Gevalia was a Swedish company which, in 1983, began offering a free coffee maker if you bought a box (four packages) of their coffee. Mom saw one their ads in a magazine and sent for it. The agreement was to continue monthly purchase of coffee, but you could cancel that at any time. I think the coffee was $9.98 a box. The packaging at that time looked like this picture.
I thought it was such a good deal that I also sent for a free coffee maker and coffee. I don't remember how long my coffee maker lasted but I had it for quite awhile. When it quit I also stopped getting their coffee and switched to other brands. I'm not sure, but I think my younger brother still uses Gevalia coffee which is now available in grocery stores.
When Hills Brothers discontinued our favorite coffee we tried several different brands, including Gevalia, but none were quite right. We finally settled on McCafé Columbian which we now have to order through Amazon since Walmart discontinued stocking it.
"Life doesn't come with a manual, it comes with a mother."
And I had the very best. 💖
No comments:
Post a Comment