Macaroni and cheese

While sitting on the deck this morning enjoying my first cup of coffee, the lyrics of the old gospel song “Precious Memories” floated through my head:

Precious father, loving mother
Fly across the lonely years
and old home scenes of my childhood
in fond memory appears.

As you can imagine, during the past few days thoughts of my Mama have been constantly on my mind. When I woke this morning, I was thinking of her macaroni and cheese.  It saddens me that her grandchildren and great grandchildren never had an opportunity to enjoy this delicacy.  In fact, this dish was created so long ago that I am not sure that my sister ever tasted its cheesy delight.

We were raised on a country diet of pinto beans, fried potatoes, cornbread, and whatever was fresh in the garden. During the winter, we added a dish from foods that were frozen or canned during our summer harvest. At least once a week, our extra dish was macaroni and cheese.

The process for making this dish began with cooking and draining the macaroni noodles. The noodles were then mixed with lots of milk, butter, and cheese. The mixture was placed in an old loaf pan then covered with more cheese then baked in the oven.

Although this dish has not been cooked in over 40 years, when I awoke this morning, I could smell the macaroni baking in the oven and see the bubbles of cheese as Mama took it from the oven. There will never be another dish of macaroni and cheese rival what my Mama made.

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

Do you ever regret the paths not taken in your life? As I have told my children many times during their growing up years that when people have a decision to make, they must look at all the factors involved in the decisions. They must take into account how the decision will affect both themselves and anyone else involved. They must also decide what the outcome will be and how this will affect them in the future.
Using this scale to measure decision making, then do we also make the right decisions? Of course not. Many times as we look back on past decisions, we realize what makes we made. Is  it too late to make changes? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. All that we can do at this point is to remember the words from the Serenity Prayer: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. May your days be filled with acceptance of your decisions!