Today is a pulchritudinous summer Sunday. Love learning new words! My yard is as serene and quiet as a heavenly church service, punctuated with a few peeps from the colorful cardinals and the occasional hymns of the singing cicadas. The breeze is kissing the wind chimes, coaxing individual notes from their silver pipes with wooden paddles, a pleasant symphony to start the day. I’m eating a cinnamon bagel, perched in the swing with my feet up, watching my little world through the peaceful morning.

I wonder what makes some days quiet and others loud with sounds of nature and mankind. Sunday is a day of rest and my world took advantage of it today. I sat in the swing and read. Penelope napped in the play pen. Even the birds were lazy coming to the feeders and bird baths. Went back out at dusk and my yard was still quiet. Only the occasional tymbals’ songs of the cicadas broke the silence. The sunset was golden and gave a pale pink tint to the horizon. The sky at twilight was clear with a clean white crescent moon pinned to the night sky canvas.

Isn’t funny how an occasional memory flares up in your mind when you sitting in the quiet. I was sitting in the swing and a memory about a Coke machine up floated in my mind. When Chief and I got married we had an old timey Coke machine in our kitchen that dispensed glass bottle cokes. We’d keep Cokes in there and when our nieces and nephews visited they loved to get a Coke from the machine.

We’d been having trouble with our refrigerator and I was afraid the formula for Thomas’ bottles was going to spoil. Sears came out and picked up our refrigerator to take it to be repaired. We were always jinxed with refrigerators. We were always buying a new one or having some repairman come and work on one. Never had one that lasted more than two or three years. The repair man said they would bring back a refrigerator for us to use while ours was being repaired. After they left I thought maybe we should get a couple of bags of ice for a cooler for the baby bottles and our refrigerated food. As I was walking by the Coke machine I thought what a great place for the baby bottles. I used glass baby bottles and they fit perfectly in the Coke slots. I kept his bottles in there till our repaired refrigerator came back. Worked perfectly. They ended up not bringing us a refrigerator to use while ours was being repaired so we kept our milk and butter in there, too, and had a Coke refrigerator for a week.

Our minds are such wonderful creations. They hold all our memories and protect them till we recall them. I sometimes struggle to recall memories and conversations with Chief, specially from the day he died. We were both so sick. I lay my head down last night and thought of the words we had spoken to each other before the ambulance arrived. We had no idea that he was not coming back home and no indication of the cardiac arrest he would have at the moment he arrived at the emergency room. The ambulance driver said if he didn’t have to be admitted they would bring him home after he had been evaluated. Course I couldn’t go with him because I was suffering with Covid, also. As I said, “Bye, Chief, I love you!,” I had no idea of what was going to transpire. But the Lord works in mysterious ways and I was allowed to gown and mask up and go into a special room off the Emergency Room and sit with him and hold his hand until his last breath. I’m so grateful he passed onto heaven with me sitting by his side. Those memories are so precious to me.

Our memories sustain us and make us who we are. We accumulate memories from every moment of our lives. It’s so important to preserve these memories. Happy memories help us be happy in the present moments. Sad memories remind us of troubling times and help us realize our strength. Memories do fade over time and photographs and videos are precious keepsakes and sustain us through our grief when loved ones are gone. To be able to hear their voice and see their smile is such a gift. We need to capture memories of the little things in everyday life, too, not just the big celebrations and milestones. Telling stories and taking photos help preserve the legacy and lives of our families. We also need to consciously create memories with our family. Memories pass on our heritage and family traditions. These memories give us comfort and a feeling of belonging with our family.

“The most beautiful things are not associated with money; they are memories and moments. If you don’t celebrate those, they can pass you by,” — Alex Wek.