A Passing On
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Life seemed good that fair cold November morning. The beans trembled outside in the late fall sunshine, and Collette emerged from the college earlier, with a smile on her face. The deed had been done, and she was now in the second semester of her senior year. Happy day it was.
For the remainder of the day, she would decide whether or not she was in favor of purchasing a tree for their first Christmas together. And she would make plans to go back home and make peanut butter cookies with Linnea and Francis, and watch “Little House” once the sun went down and outdoor play-time was over. Maybe a game of CLUE or two during Lawrence Welk, if all went well…
She had seen OLeif off that morning with a lunch of cumin chicken and mashed potatoes (the potatoes he had mashed himself), and all was set to relax a small spell before the next day, a Sunday potentially tear-filled and happy birthday-ish from sunup till sundown.
She ached a little from the push-ups and such that she had been working on in the mornings and evenings. And she was very hungry, but just couldn’t seem to get around to making herself some lunch. After all, there was more studying to be finished and writing to be done, and all sorts of things. But in the end, she knew it would all be fun, and she was finally learning to look forward to all of the little things, even making the usual frustrating or tedious, even potentially frightful experiences, fun and anticipating. It was a new approach for her, but worthwhile, she thought. She had even looked forward to the literature exam that morning. It was a most unusual thing to have happen.
She thought of Great Grandma Jewel that morning, who had passed away back in May before they left on their vacation to Maine and Washington D.C. She recalled how, at her funeral, Francis had spoken to the group gathered there from the pulpit, after the minister had said some words on her life. Francis had spoken eloquently (for a nine year-old) and movingly about her, and how that one day they would all see her again in Heaven.
The visitation had been quiet, as Collette played card games in the front right pews with Linnea and Francis. Lucia, in her new black dress with red cherries, had sat talking with Carrie and Rose while the boys went off and eventually helped lift the casket. A good deal of people came to the funeral. Grandma Combs was very surprised at the number, as all of Great Grandma’s friends had passed on. She was nearly 93, and had lived a good life.
Afterward, they went to the Combs’ house, which had once been where Mom and Uncle Mo grew up with Grandma and Grandpa Combs. There they ate sandwiches with sodas and the afternoon had passed pleasantly. Several hours later, they drove to the graveyard where upon arrival, the heavens burst open as they had desired to all day.
The next several moments they saw where Great Grandma was to be buried. It seemed to be a nice quiet place there, under the trees and among the other old stones with the squirrels and bluebirds singing perhaps the next spring. Collette knew that Great Grandma was in a far better place, but she couldn’t help but think that she would have liked that place, peaceful and quiet…
As Collette pondered these things, she went about her business, and soon a pot of hot water steamed on the stove as she prepared macaroni with cheese. Unlike the thick gooey heavily cheesy type she usually enjoyed, this version was thin and milked-down a bit. It reminded her very much of what a dish of the same type must have appeared like in the early 1900’s. She had seen a clip from “The 1900’s House” on PBS several years earlier, showing the macaroni and cheese they helped themselves to, along with watercress, although their cheese was white and not orange.
A thick glass of milk finished off her meal, as she had been hearing a great deal about the importance of calcium. In fact that was they very thing, the only thing, likely, that had kept Great Grandma from moving around as she used to. Osteoporosis had been her ball and chain; she had never liked to drink milk much as a child.
She sighed a bit and stretched. Nearly one o’clock and her study was almost over for the day. A nice ice cream would certainly top everything off, but why keep all the good things for one day, yes? Save the little treats for the days when they will be most beneficial, she thought…
Out of the blue, she recalled how she had been thinking on children lately. For years she had a dream of adopting a Chinese baby girl. The thought had always kept her alive in a way, a little flame inside at the very thought. Even when she wasn’t sure that she would ever marry, she had great hopes of adopting. At one point she had written up a grand plan of adopting three girls, one from China, another from Norway, and a third from Italy, named Carrie-Bri, Diana, and Eve. She would raise them in a grand stone house in the country with golden fields and a grove of Sugar maples and cottonwoods around their home. She even had the floor plan arranged and their studies (such as fencing, cello, and mathematics). It had all seemed like such a wonderful thing. Of course now she found herself happily married, and wondered if such a thing could still happen. She would love to adopt, and not only her Chinese baby, but perhaps two boys, one from South America or Central America, and another from Eastern Europe or an Indian reservation. She still had high hopes for it all to come to pass.
Oh, I could do with a nice Pepsi right now, she yawned to herself. What a drag that I don’t have some in the fridge. Of course she could always walk a small ways down to the convenience store at the fuel station, but it was cold out and she was waiting for Mom to ring her back.