Before Shiva

Yahrzeit Memorial Candle in memory of my father-2, by Zeev Barkan via Flickr.com under Creative Commons 2.0 License
Editor’s Note: This is the first of a series of poems contributed to Jewish Sacred Aging by Sue Klau. Future poems will also appear as guest blog posts.
I pad barefoot into the kitchen
My sister has made my coffee
Accepting a hot fragrant cup from my daughter-in-law
I sip gratefully
Kiss the head of the baby in the high chair
Ruffle the soft curls of sticky girl cousins giggling over pancakes
Good morning, Mom,
Sit down, pleads my younger son
Yes, Sit, echoes his brother
And then I remember
Why they are all here.
Sue. Close to the heart. Hope you are well
Barbara Stern
With a thought that that was, and now with Covid19 not as much so, or maybe more. m