The summer I turned nine, we moved into a house much closer to my mother's large extended family than I could remember ever living before. My mother was one of eleven children so we suddenly found ourselves spending lots of time with aunts, uncles and cousins who had very nearly been strangers up to that point.
That first summer, we had a house-warming party, hosting at least thirty or forty people. My Aunt Joyce arrived a little late and wandered into the kitchen where my mother was arranging casserole dishes that others had brought.
My aunt looked over Mom's shoulder and said, "I didn't know we were supposed to bring a dish-to-pass."
Mom said, "We weren't expecting anything but your presence."
Aunt Joyce smirked and said, "We didn't bring you any of those either."
Presence. Presents. Heh.
Having not yet entered fourth grade, I doubt I had ever seen the word "presence" in print, though I might well have seen "presents." Either way, I not only got the joke, but loved the wordplay. It is one of many incidents that reinforced my interest in words, in reading and writing and, therefore, reinforced what has turned out to be a fundamental piece of my identity.
T is for Thankful
The Art of Thriving ~Studio News4U
3 months ago
My mom was the middle of 12 kids.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on
My mom was seventh of eleven--seven girls, four boys.
DeleteMy Dad was the middle child of seven (one died in infancy). He helped raise his youngest brother after his Mom died young. My Mom also came from a large family. On the other hand, I was an only child. Maybe that's why I'm such a poor punner. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteMy father was an only child and my mom was seventh of eleven children. I am oldest of four so they kind of split the difference between eleven and 1, I guess. :)
DeleteA dish-to-pass, I'd not heard of that before. I like word play too and sometimes make up my own.
ReplyDeleteI think "dish-to-pass" must be a regional thing. I grew up hearing it, but have learned that potluck or covered dish supper are the much more common ways to indicate guests are expected to bring some food. :)
DeleteHiv disease for the last 3 years and had pain hard to eat and cough are nightmares,especially the first year At this stage, the immune system is severely weakened, and the risk of contracting opportunistic infections is much greater. However, not everyone with HIV will go on to develop AIDS. The earlier you receive treatment, the better your outcome will be.I started taking ARV to avoid early death but I had faith in God that i would be healed someday.As a Hiv patent we are advise to be taking antiretroviral treatments to reduce our chance of transmitting the virus to others , few weeks ago i came on search on the internet if i could get any information on Hiv treatment with herbal medicine, on my search i saw a testimony of someone who has been healed from Hiv her name was Achima Abelard and other Herpes Virus patent Tasha Moore also giving testimony about this same man,Called Dr Itua Herbal Center.I was moved by the testimony and i contacted him by his Email.drituaherbalcenter@gmail.com We chatted and he send me a bottle of herbal medicine I drank it as he instructed me to.After drinking it he ask me to go for a test that how i ended my suffering life of Hiv patent,I'm cured and free of Arv Pills.I'm forever grateful to him Drituaherbalcenter.Here his contact Number +2348149277967...He assure me he can cure the following disease..Hiv,Cancer,Herpes Virus,Epilepsy,Hepatitis,Parkinson disease.Diabetes,Fibroid...
ReplyDeleteCreating or cutting designs is easy with Cricut. Cricut has free software, Design Space, that lets you set up and create exciting designs. Setup your cutting machine by visiting cricut.com/setup and connect your computer and mobile device to the Cricut new machine setup. In establishing this connection, Cricut Design Space will help as a medium. That’s what we call a setup. So, start doing the setup today and make things you have never thought of!
ReplyDelete