CHAPTER ONE
AUNT CECIL RETURNS FOR A VISIT
Aunt Cecil was due to arrive at any moment and the two young girls sat with their noses pressed against the window in anticipation, smearing it with their breath. Anxious to see her, because every visit with Aunt Cecil was sure to be more special than the one before, they wiggled and jiggled each other on the window seat until their Mother came and pulled them away. “We are all excited about Aunt Cecil coming to spend time with us, but girls, you must behave yourselves. Go to your rooms until she gets here.” Sending them off to pout in their bedrooms, their Mother took over their places at the window, putting her forehead against the pane to see if the taxi was making its way down the street yet. A visit from Aunt Cecil was highly anticipated, for she was a world traveler and had been to so many exotic places that her stories were never ending.
Everyone agreed that Aunt Cecil was truly an eccentric woman. Odd though she was, she was also fun, lovable and the greatest storyteller of all time. She made a little ticking sound with her tongue before each sentence and her words were pronounced slowly as if they were marching out of her mouth. The children were always entranced when she talked and would sit and stare at her, listening to every word. When she was not telling them a story they followed her like the Pied Piper, eager to see what she would be doing next. She gave them unique gifts that other adults would never have thought of; not candy or gum or something ordinary, but would pull a shell picked up on the beaches of Jamaica or a rock from a trip to the great Rocky Mountains out of her pockets. She dressed strangely as well, wearing a man’s derby and often would tip it towards whomever she was greeting or talking with.
As a world traveler Aunt Cecil had acquired many talents on her trips and her favorite of all of these was cooking. She could whip up Eggs Benedict for the adults and chocolate covered donuts for the children at the same meal. Her life had been filled with suitcases, tote bags, and plane tickets, but she went nowhere without her recipe book and special kitchen tools. She had learned from some of the greatest chefs in the world and her recipe book read like a geography text. Never having been married and not having children of her own certainly explained why she loved them so much and cooking too. She made her home wherever she visited, one niece or nephew, sometimes a cousin, at a time. She was coming to stay with her nephew and his family, the girls Megan and Kelly, and they were so excited that they did not mind the simple scolding they had received from their Mother.
The sound of the car door slamming alerted the house to the arrival of Aunt Cecil and the two girls ran down the stairs as the taxi disappeared around the corner to discover their aunt standing in the foyer, a suitcase on either side of her. “What a reception,” said Aunt Cecil. “How I love these welcoming committees. Megan, Kelly. My you have grown!”
“Aunt Cecil! I am so glad you are finally here!” Megan was so excited she was nearly jumping up and down for joy.
“My dear,” Aunt Cecil hugged her great niece, “You are as pretty as always, and look at you Kelly, you have gotten as tall as your sister, almost.”
Not to be left out, the younger sister moved into her aunt’s arms for a huge hug. “We missed you,” she said shyly. Megan and Kelly took Aunt Cecil’s hand and led her into the living room where their Mother and Father were waiting.
Settling into an easy chair, Aunt Cecil looked around and said, “I am so happy to be back here. This is my very favorite place to be in the whole world!”
After a short reunion, the time spent getting to know one another again, after all, it had been over a year since Aunt Cecil was last here, the elderly woman sighed, “I am afraid I am a just a little tired from all the traveling. I cannot sleep on airplanes or in taxis anymore. I think I should take a short nap before I start dinner.”
Megan laughed. “We don’t expect you to make dinner tonight Aunt Cecil.”
Kelly spoke up too, “We’re having pizza! They will deliver.”
Aunt Cecil shook her head, “I sent your Mother a list of ingredients for a meal that I have planned and I am sure that she purchased them for me.” Glancing at the girls’ Mother she saw her shaking her head confirming that the necessary items were waiting in the kitchen. “It’s settled then. I will go to my room and when I have rested I will come down and prepare you one of my newest recipes! We can order pizza any time.”
After helping Aunt Cecil with her baggage, making sure she was comfortable in her room, Megan and Kelly went to Megan’s bedroom where the two girls whispered excitedly about their aunt. “She is marvelous,” said Megan. “Just as I remember her from the last time she was here.”
Kelly nodded, “I didn't think I would know her anymore, but I do!”
~~~~~~
The sisters were very close, Megan thirteen and Kelly only eleven months behind her at twelve years old. They had been planning this visit forever and could not wait to get started on a long list of activities that with the help of their parents, they had prepared for their aunt. Cooking would only be a part of the fun; they were going to the park where they could race their sailboats in the pond, the library where they both loved to spend an afternoon discovering new books, and shopping at the mall in town. They knew Aunt Cecil loved to shop almost as much as she loved cooking and they had saved their allowances for weeks now to have their own spending money. The girls decided to go down to the kitchen. “Maybe Mother will let us in on what Aunt Cecil has planned for our dinner.”
Kelly stood up and stretched her arms, “Yes and maybe get a snack to hold us until she has it ready, because I’m starving.”
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The fruits of the spirit according to Galations 5:22 are: love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. There are some days that the only fruit my spirit produces is more like that off a banana than of any listed above. Here is why.
I get up in the morning, fresh from sleep; my body, heart, mind and spirit ready to begin this new day and all the challenges it presents, eager to make this truly the day that I take this spiritual awareness with me until I lay my head down again that night. So, in the course of the day what happens? I get an unexpected phone call with bad news, someone drops the ball at corporate and I have to deal with the customer, I stump my big toe on the table that I forgot I have just placed there when rearranging furniture, any of a list of small and large events from an average day. So, a normal day with what it holds can bring down my spirit quicker than anything else I know, just in its normalcy.
The comparison to the banana then is this. The green ripe delicious banana in the morning lays in the fruit bowl all day just waiting to be taken up and eaten for the good of the body and the pleasure it gives to the taste. As it lay there untouched all day it begins to brown, mellow out and by the end of the day it has lost its allure, its spirit so to speak has been diminished.
How to reverse this process? It occurs to me that although like the banana by the end of the day my spirit has darkened and become something heavy and without taste, I can pause and allow the real fruit of the spirit to wash over me, remaking my day into something beautiful, clearing away the brown spots that the day bruised and burdened it with. Just like I can take the brown, mellow, banana and along with other ingredients turn it into a warm, appealing bread, full of body and flavor, now a very useful fruit once again.
I love an analogy as is very apparent in most of my writing for it gives me such a vast wealth of subjects to use. To be able to compare my spirit with a banana is not only a little witty and a little fun, I hope it reveals a truth that the fruit of the spirit are real tools that we need to use daily so they will not wither away, and take our goodness with them.
