20 Jun Sprinkles of Cinnamon and Sugar
Ella spread a layer of butter onto a slice of warm, freshly made bread.
Our host in Portugal had baked a loaf for us earlier in the morning, and breakfast was waiting for us when we came down the creaky stairs of the inn. The bread was wrapped in a checkered cloth and placed in a basket. On the table, our host had arranged a platter of sliced fruit, a crock of homemade butter, tiny jars of honey, assorted jams she had made from berries in her garden, and a glass shaker filled with cinnamon and sugar.
Holding her buttered bread, Ella looked at the options of jams and honey, then chose the shaker. She sprinkled the mixture of cinnamon and sugar on the top of the buttered toast.
My father-in-law, vacationing with our family, sat at the wooden table across from Ella. He watched her prepare her cinnamon sugar toast with a smile on his face.
“Seeing Ella do that reminds me of when I was a little boy, about six years old,” he began. “Every day, we would walk home from school, and the woman who lived next door to us would usher us through the gate and up the steps into her home. She would have slices of hot buttery toast sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar waiting for us as an after-school snack.”
He had a faraway look in his eyes and a smile on his face as he sat with this memory.
My father-in-law’s parents would often work into the evening, so he and his siblings were expected to let themselves into the house, fix a snack and begin their homework. But as they turned the corner onto their street, their laughs and shouts would alert their neighbor they were nearby.
Soon, he would see the woman peeking out of her door and gesturing them toward her house. My father-in-law and his siblings would race each other up the steps, and the woman would hand them each a plate with a slice of hot buttery toast topped with cinnamon and sugar.
I’ve been listening closely to my father-in-law as we travel together this week. He is living with ALS and acutely aware of the privilege of being alive. As he tells stories of the memories that stand out in his life, I’ve noticed that he talks most about stories where love lives in the little details.
Stories about sprinkles of cinnamon and sugar on top of hot buttery toast.