My Mother's Recipe Box

A nostalgia problem

This is not my mother’s recipe box but
it is somebody’s mother’s recipe box
arrived from the eBay seller full of
these carefully typed recipes:
I paid extra for those.
During Thanksgiving weekend,
my sister Ann and her son George and I
sorted through the recipes
George using the Taboo buzzer to decide
which stranger’s mother’s recipes
went into the recycling bin.
It’s my recipe box now.
I’m somebody’s mother.
I messed up though.
I should have gotten this metal 60s recipe box
(the exact same style my mom had)
20 years ago. Cuz probably now my daughters
will come home one day and say “ohhh
whatever happened to that old plastic blue
notecard box with the lid that never closed?
The one that had a greasy orange index card
taped to the top that said RECIPES!!!! scrawled
in Aunt Ann’s handwriting??” and I’ll say
oh that piece of junk? I threw that away
This one’s much better and they will
probably think no it isn’t
what the heck mom why did you
throw away my beloved childhood?
like my parents did when they
sold our house and moved to that
brand new subdivision out to 
the west end of town,
by the cornfields but 
nothing else.
as if it was their life or something.

—

Miss you mom!