From November 3rd

Last night I was at Marilyn’s, looking at pictures, when her cell phone rings. It’s Jeremy, sounding traumatized. He had decided to make cookies and reached for the mixer, which lives on the top shelf above the sink in our microscopic kitchen. This shelf also holds the huge pasta cooking pot, as well as stacks of giant mixing bowls. The cord for the mixer was caught under two bowls, one that used to be my grandmothers, and one that used to be the bread-making bowl of Jeremy’s father. These two bowls came crashing down, knocking into the full dish rack of newly washed dishes, knocking more dishes to the floor and into the sink. The carnage was everywhere—his father’s bowl was shattered, my grandmother’s bowl had two large chips in it and a big crack, and we lost a wine glass, a sangria glass, a coffee cup and a smaller bowl. Surprisingly, that’s it. A bunch of stuff bounced on the floor, but didn’t break. Neither Jeremy nor the cat were hurt. All in all, it was unfortunate, but it could have been a lot worse. (I kept wondering all night long, what did that crash SOUND like? It must have been amazingly loud. Jeremy was too caught up in the moment to notice the noise, but I bet it was astounding.)
Thankfully, I didn’t have too much attachment to any of the bowls. Otherwise it might have been a different story.
I came home and we cleaned the remaining bits of glass and pottery on the floor and sink. I decided to clean out the chaotic area under the sink, home to vases, appliances, paper napkins, cleaning supplies and miscellaneous junk. I emptied the entire space, and noticed a wine box, way in the back. What is that? I pulled it out, and found a full box of blueberry jam that we’d made shortly before moving away from Georgia. I had intended to give it to folks for Xmas last year, and apparently put it under the sink when we first moved in because we had no other storage space. There it sat, for over a year, until now. Guess what everyone is getting for Xmas this year??