I Gave My Love

I have only one daughter, but there is no doubt she is indeed my favorite female.

From the frigid Thanksgiving morning in Ohio, when she entered my world, my oldest child has made my days brighter.

For some remote and possibly untapped genetic ability, Di chooses and selects unique gifts for her Mom. Occasionally, some are expensive, sometimes not, but more often their true value is surprising because of her recognition of my aging and yes, lifetime eccentric desires..

Suggestions or requests are rarely spoken, but when a package arrives with her unique style of address, I know it will contain something quite special,

Usually before opening the bag or box or envelope. I float back in time to the one time when I did ask for a gift.

It was a request made while both she and I (along with those who shared our life and love) were still young. It was during those frantic, frenzied and yet happy years before life separated us and a family’s path fractured,

It was another December, when I made my request of the maiden with the flaxen hair and the distinctive voice.

I asked that she learn a relatively unknown song,

“I gave my love a cherry,” and perform it on Christmas Day accompanied by her equally talented brother and his guitar,

And oh, how I wish I recorded that one time event, but of course, I didn’t.

Yet when the tiny pouch of my favorite red and green foil coins from Vt arrived today, I seemed to hear my favorite daughter’s voice singing softly about a cherry that has no stones,

But of course, the song is really about love that never ends

And so is the package with the festive red and green chocolate coins from Vermont where our once intact family shared so many happy summers.