Toast

My daughter sent me a heart-warming text one Saturday morning: “I made Jim toast with butter and jam for breakfast. It made me think of Grandma. and miss her. Isn’t it a lovely thing how the people we love always stay with us somehow?” And then, another daughter replied, “Yeah, I think of her whenever I eat toast and jam too.”

Then I nostalgically added memories of her homemade Bear Lake raspberry jam, preserved in tiny canning bottles, to which one replied, “I had forgotten about her little bottles, I remember now. And so delicious! The butter makes the jam better.”

And then we all got sentimental and talked of traditions and families, and little things that make such an impact on kids growing up….and how love wraps around us all like a timeless, warm blanket..

She would spread the butter thick
And remove the crust
From the perfectly toasted bread
And spread the precious homemade raspberry jam
From her tiny bottles--
Her way of loving
In a way that stayed
Within grand-babies memories
Long after her passing.

And now, each piece of toast
Takes us back to her warm kitchen
To her love
And we are warmed
And we belong.

A piece of toast
Such a small thing
To wrap us together so tightly.

A couple of scriptures come to mind:  D&C 64:33--"Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work."  and Alma 37:6--"....by small and simple things are great things brought to pass..."