My Cornucopia

A few years ago, right before Thanksgiving, due to my inability to resist virtually anything under the amount of five dollars, I bought a brown wicker cornucopia form the Christmas Tree Shop. I placed it in the center of the table and filled it with assorted fruits, pinecones, nuts in their shells and other things that rolled all over and drove me insane until I packed it away after the holiday.

That's one kind of cornucopia. 

Another kind is not tangible but far more rewarding. We all have them. Mine is very full but there's always room for more. I add to it all the time.

Just recently I topped mine off with the faces of a father and his small daughter as they walked in front of my car and a minivan which had stopped at right angles to one another in a busy parking to let them by. The little girl was feisty and resisted his efforts to scoop her up and hurry out of our way but we were happy to give her time to toddle by, clutching her daddy’s hand and smiling. He was smiling, too and the other driver and I smiled at one another after they'd passed. It was a good moment.

I also recently added the moment when a crazy little cardinal with his preposterously peaked cap and black-ringed beak alit on my bird feeder while a sassy jay was still swinging from it and, for a flash, I had bright blue and red right outside my kitchen window. That was a good moment, too. I'm also throwing in the smell of my son -- aftershave and pizza -- as I hugged him upon his arrival home for the holidays the other day. And upon all that, I stuffed the time last week when Tito the Cat -- a recent addition to our feline flock -- trusted me enough to jump up on my lap for the very first time...it took almost a year but was worth the wait. See, I told you---there’s always room for more in your cornucopia.

All these new moments tamped down what's already in there: memories of my mother looking up from her sewing with a smile, the afternoon I stood impatiently by a sunny window as a little girl waiting for my best friend to arrive--excited because I’d gotten a new game for my birthday, my grandmother's bare arms as she ironed on a summer morning, my sons playing wiffle ball in the back with their friends, walking in Central Park with Seth, the sound of laughter from the kitchen after I'd been put to bed as I wondered what I was missing but not really caring because I felt safe and sleepy, the words, “Will you marry me?”, “It’s a boy!”, “Hey, Ma, I’m home!”

Don’t forget to explore the contents of your own cornucopia…not just this week but often. 

If you stick your hand inside, you really don’t know what you’ll come back with…it might be something that will make you cry but, if it’s in there, chances are it led to something pivotal, important, meaningful or ultimately rewarding…something that made you who you are today. So, feel free to root around, you won’t be sorry. Sure, you might have no choice but to sob because lots of things in there may be physically gone from you but, don’t worry, they’re safe in your cornucopia.

If you see a wicker one, save your money…nothing stays in those. Have a happy healthy Thanksgiving, everyone…with love from “Susan Says…”