A Reorganized Kitchen with My Girl.........Where Did We Put the Spatulas?

 Kitchen organized~check, pouring out my heart and hurt to one of my favorite people~check, a most peaceful sleep~check. Now to find where we put the coffee cups..... No I am goofing. I have been wanting to reorganize and rid out my kitchen for a long time. Silly me put my plentiful bread making ingredients in a corner cabinet that you have to crawl in to find anything. So Angelica came up and we took everything out of my cupboards and drawers, wiped the crud out and put them in more logical spots. We donated boxes to a local charity because seriously who needs forty wooden spoons or three cookie ballers. I don't know if they are called cookie ballers but you know that thing you scoop batter in then squeeze to slide it onto the cookie sheet. I also admitted with Ronnie B's help that we lived forty-three years without a charcuterie board and perhaps did not need to take up that much space for the fancy one I bought. Someone at the thrift store will no doubt be excited to crowd their cabinets with it. Win~win!

So I have known Angelica since she was in kindergarten. She is my family in the sense that she was a resilient, energetic cutie that plowed through her broken family with endurance. That unstoppable attitude is now this young wife, soon to be a mom that shares her life with me. I am beyond blessed. She admits it was hard the first time she heard Mrs. Barber say a not so appropriate word but now I am her Noni and she is my treasure. After we finished busting a move in the kitchen that was a time filled with hard work, laughing and a bit of gossip, we sat in the living room going through the yarn she could use and that I could give. Some of you know just how hard this past year+ has been with losing my sister, then our son-in-love, Hector. All the grief I was bottling up just poured out on this young woman who calls me Noni and loves me so much. I kept apologizing for spewing all over her. She just hugged me and said we have permission to spew on one another since we are family and have spent our lives together.

She admitted her husband, that I picked by the way, finds it odd that she is so close to a former teacher. It is not odd. It is beautiful. After working so hard and the emotional release of our mostly one sided conversation I slept soundly when I laid my head on my pillow. What a gift this lady is to include me as her family. I am so thankful that I went from being Mrs. Barber her teacher to her Noni and friend. 

In Him,

Joyful

3-6-22