Darcie over coffee

Last week my family ate breakfast together- grown ups and kids around the table, bagels, cream cheese, coffee.
"So, Mom, what was your favorite California food?" (I love eating other peoples food!)
hmmm, apricots, apricot pie. . . and clam chowder.

My sister, Beth,  remembers how I love this coast- gusting wind and sand, jagged rocks, tides advancing, then retreating; she planned an outing to Bodega Bay; I snagged a fleece that hung around my knees like a cozy dress.

 We picked up clam chowder at Lucas wharf-and at home we ate our chowder with oyster crackers, slowly, just four grown ups around the dining room table that belonged to our parents.
Over hot tea I shuffled through a box of photos of John and me, of our children, stacks of pictures that Beth had saved from our mother's house.
We talked about our mom, the memories. . .and we laughed about the funny, quirky things.

Treading into the sixth decade of my life,  I notice those quirky things in me too. . .and maybe I understand her just bit better.