chicken soup and childhood memories

Rafael and I were packed and ready to fly to Germany to visit family. On the morning of our flight, Rafael had a fever, and my throat was killing me. I ended up having to cancel the trip, and since then, we've been sick at home. 

I made myself a pot of chicken noodle soup, trying to recreate a childhood memory of mine. My friend's mother Lucie would make chicken soup on cold foggy days, and she always had large pieces of carrot in it. She left the inch-long carrot pieces unpeeled, and they were always candy-sweet in the salty, warm broth. I still remember so many things about that house, and about her....she had a huge hedge of camelias that I thought of as 'fake roses' beside the walk way leading up to the house, and had gladiolas of all different colors growing in her small garden. She mopped the wooden floor every day, and loved watching Soul Train. Her son held Monopoly marathons with his friends that would sometimes last days, and her daughter and I played with My Little Ponies and Barbies and ate fruit snacks shaped like sharks out of little plastic packets. She shopped at Costco and had enormous boxes of Raisin Bran in the cupboard. If we were going to watch a movie she pulled out the popcorn machine; it had a little compartment for melting butter on top while the kernels popped below. She would spend a long time putting her daughter's curly hair into braids, using sweet-smelling products, and it made me wish I was black too, so someone would spend all that time on my hair. Once, after I begged a lot, she also put my hair into braids, and of course it looked really silly. 

When I remember all these things, it makes me wonder what Raffi's friends will remember about his mom later in life. 

Just some thoughts and memories on a cold, autumn night.

Can you believe it's October tomorrow?

xoxoxo