My mom is 89 years old.
For the past 10 years, her memory has slowly
deteriorated until she had to move into a nursing home. Physically, she is
still very fit, but her short term memory is completely nonfunctional, and over
time she has lost other memories as well. The really bad part is that she lost it so
slowly that we didn't take the time to capture the things she knew... like her
favorite recipes, or stories of times before we were born. By the time we
realized that it wasn't just a mistake or a bad day, poof... the memories were gone.
Today she was at my house and we talked about her
German potato salad. A staple at every picnic, family gathering, or trip to the
river bank (alongside hot dogs), everyone loved her potato salad and she would
make massive batches so that everyone could take home a bowl. About five years
ago when I knew that her memory was failing, I tried to get her to give me the
recipe, but she got angry that she couldn't remember and the whole day was a dismal
failure. But for some reason, today was different.
Today I got out most of the ingredients that I knew were
included and just acted like I was merely giving her a hand. Before you know it,
she was slicing and dicing and measuring... and much to my suprise, with no difficulty
or indecision, the potato salad was complete.
I have mixed emotions about this... I'm happy to
have this memory with my mom, and I'm glad to have the recipe. But why now? And
what strange quirk is it that she can now remember how to make potato salad,
but still can't remember that her own mother passed away 20 years ago?
Despite that, it was good to see her hands once again acting like the
determined and strong hands that I remember. The time robbed her of that so
slowly, that I had forgotten how capable she was and how quickly she could move- slicing, peeling,
and throwing it all together.
So here…
for all of you… especially those of you that take the time to send her cards
and letters, here is a gift from my mom-the thing that is most precious to her these days-a memory:
Virginia’s German Potato Salad:
3 lbs small red potatoes. Boiled in their “jackets”
peeled and sliced when cold
4 hardboiled eggs
1 lb bacon, diced and fried crisp
dice:
1/2 green pepper
1/2 red pepper
1 bunch green onions
(add celery too if you want but "It's just filler, I
really hate that shit")
Meanwhile, heat in a skillet:
1/4 cup of bacon drippings
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 teas celery seed
salt/pepper to
taste
poor warm dressing over potatoes. Will seem too wet at
first, but potatoes will soak it up
