"Snippets of Sunshine from Stella"
What the Walton's Didn't Tell You

Carol sat in the kitchen, the rich scents of pumpkin pie, and sage seasoned turkey still lingering in the air. It was 2:30 a.m., and the house was finally quiet. It wasn.t that she didn.t enjoy having the kids home from college, she just wasn.t used to all of the chaos. When you add two college students to the two high schoolers they still had at home, peace on earth became a pipe dream. Carol sipped a glass of room temperature eggnog, poured from the container that had been left on the counter, as she leafed through a women.s magazine with a holiday cover. She wondered if the warm eggnog would kill her-probably not-but it would serve them right. It seemed to her that someone had said, “Don.t lift a finger Mom, you slaved in the kitchen all day, we.ll clean it up.” She had foolishly thought they meant after dinner, not when a chisel would be necessary to get the food remnants off the dishes. Carol looked disdainfully at the magazine and thought, “There is no truth in advertising.” “How to Get Through the Holidays-Stress Free,” the title read.

Carol spiked her eggnog and continued perusing the article. Maybe she should have read it before the holidays, but there just hadn.t been time! “When Family Comes to Visit....” one section read, “take a moment to relax, sit down and enjoy their company.” That idea had merit, but no basis in reality. A revolving door would have been a good investment; they came in long enough to shower, change, and say “don.t wait up.” The closest to togetherness they had come was when her son, a high school senior, had backed the family station wagon into his sister.s Volkswagen. Metal scraping metal makes a distinctive sound, so everyone rushed out to make sure it wasn.t their car. The family gathering ended only when her son offered to pay his sister.s insurance deductible, and make sure the car was fixed before she returned to college, so that she wouldn.t call the police. Carol thought she heard her daughter telling her son she would also require his firstborn child. Maybe she had misunderstood.

“Not bad,” she thought as she fixed another eggnog. The next page showed a woman in a crisp, clean apron presenting a golden turkey to her smiling family seated around the dining table. “What a joke,” Carol thought. First of all, if Betty Crocker there had cooked that turkey, her apron would look like mine, covered in flour and spattered with grease from the turkey that had dropped back into the pan as she went to put it on a serving plate. One leg had fallen off in the process, so she nicknamed him “Gimpy”. It wasn.t as if it planned to walked to the table anyway, she had consoled herself. Why didn.t her family look like they had just seen God, like the family in the picture when she presented her turkey? Maybe it was the leg!

“Take Time to Give Thanks”, another heading read. She wondered how long she would feel guilty for being thankful when the blessing was over. While she had gone to the kitchen to get the gravy and rolls, they had started to fill their plates. When her husband announced it was time to pray, he dipped his shirtsleeve in the gravy as he reached for her hand, and she heard Volkswagen girl hiss at her brother, ”I hope you choke on that turkey-it.s not been blessed!” Maybe he should offer her the second born also.

Maggie.s Memo:
DELMARVA SENIOR CARE opened for business in August 2004. With over 26 years of combined experience in the health care .eld, Angela and Eric Eaton are committed to providing the highest quality care to the seniors of the Delmarva Peninsula.
DELMARVA SENIOR CARE is an af.liate of “The Senior.s Choice”, a company with 18 years of experience in senior companion care, with business owners throughout the United States.

DELMARVA SENIOR CARE specializes in non-medical companion care for seniors who want to remain independent in their homes as an alternative to going to a nursing home or assisted living facility.

The caregivers at DELMARVA SENIOR CARE are insured, bonded, and screened. Extensive background checks are done on all caregivers to ensure that the highest quality of care is being given.

For a free in-home assessment and information on the Falls Prevention program contact DELMARVA SENIOR CARE at 443-880-4890.