Love ~ On the Table

You’ll never guess where love showed up this time…

We were at a wonderfully relaxed gathering of family and friends near the Mission in San Francisco on Christmas Eve. Old and young folk clustered around the house in various conversations. Talk in my little huddle drifted toward loved ones who have passed on, and one of the other guests and I both lost family in a plane crash:  her father in the 1960s, and my sister Betty 17 years ago. I had just finished speaking of Betty, turned to take my glass from the buffet table on my right and saw this little heart ~

We couldn’t figure out WHAT is was made of. At first we thought a piece of dark lint from someone’s pocket. A few of us witnesses examined it closely but still couldn’t say for sure what we were looking at. Earlier that spot was occupied by some delicious mushrooms stuffed with crabmeat (nobody makes this like my friend~and the host~Lori!) and before that some Bird’s Nests from Trader Joe’s (these you buy frozen, remind me of latkas). So the final verdict was split: some kind of dried herb or a little piece of char.

The last time we saw Betty was around her birthday, Dec 11th in 1996. She visited us here in California. The plane crashed just inside of a month later, on this day, Jan 9th, 1997.

So our Christmas & New Year holidays will forever include some heavy memories—this time infinitely lightened by a little love from Betty showing up on the buffet table.
Very appropriate…she LOVED to feed people!