There are so many things that I wish I could tell my mom right now. I wish I could tell her that I just retired, or that I’m learning to play piano, or that I found a church that I love and I even get to do “video stuff” there. Or I wish I could tell her about all the concerts I’ve gone to, or about my latest road trip, or about running a half marathon, or that I finished a new puzzle, or about sitting on my porch because she loved to do the same thing. Or I wish I could introduce her to my new friends that never got to meet her.
And even though I’d love to tell her all of the big life-changing moments, it’s actually the little everyday things that I wish I could tell her the most. Like the simple fact that I like to eat onions now. Ok, it’s not just onions, but so many foods that I didn’t like in the past. Mom used to tell me to try new foods because my “taste buds would change”. I would just look at her like she was crazy and tell her “no thanks”. For example, I used to love the smell of her baked beans, but would never eat them because I didn’t like beans. And I like guacamole so much now that I don’t even remember not liking it. The only reason I know that I didn’t like it at some point is because I used to give Mom my guacamole anytime it was on my plate. She loved guacamole, so I was more than happy to let her have it. Speaking of Mexican food, I used to order fajitas but only eat the chicken. I started liking the green peppers at some point, and now I even like the onions too. But wait, you knew that already. However, it’s only been recently that I started enjoying raw onions. Every summer, Mom and I would have turkey sandwiches for lunch and she would try to get me to eat a red onion on my sandwich. Um, no. I didn’t want any part of that. But the day finally came where I like onion on my sandwiches and burgers. And the first thing I wanted to do when this occurred was call Mom and tell her. Oh boy, she would be giving me such a hard time right now if she were here. And probably telling me “I told you so”.
A lot of things have gotten easier with time. But there are still days that I reach for the phone as if she’s there to pick it up on the other end. And if she were there, I would boldly tell her that I still don’t like MUSHROOMS!