The Yellow Bowl

Looks like a simple yellow bowl of oranges, doesn't it?

It's not.

A few days ago I purchased some "Halo" oranges.

When I brought them home, I thought they would

look nicer in a bowl out on the countertop.

So I dug deep into my cabinet and I saw the yellow

Bauer bowl that I had taken from my Grandmother's 

kitchen after she passed away in 2002.

I thought why not use that?

It was a nice memory of her.

Except there were more memories hidden in this bowl

than I knew.

As it had been sitting in this cabinet drawer for some

time I wanted to wash it and clean it.

Before I did, I was struck numb for a moment.

A single black hair.
One.

I knew just where it had come from so long ago.

A single piece of fur that I picked up with my

fingertip and tears ran down my face like rain.

A memory.

Abby during the photos I shot of her that day in Feb of 2013.

Up on the counter (where the current oranges were shot) drinking out 

of my cup of water. She liked to do that.
I liked that she did it.

Sitting by the edge of the sink.

Do you see it?

The yellow bowl?

It underneath the stainless steel pot.

The pot I used all the time to make her

special slippery elm syrup.

Memories. 

Abby behind the cabinet.

How I remember that day.
Thinking back...

Wondering am I going to be able to get you out?

She loved getting into the kitchen cabinets.

Yes, that yellow bowl.

The one my Grandmother had for years.

It was your fur from this moment suspended in

time until I reawakened it two years later.

***

That piece of fur, that one strand fell off my

fingertip and onto the floor.
I couldn't find it again.

But for one moment I held her again if only 

one tiny speck.

It was her and she was here.

***

I miss her so.