We are entering the Red Apple grocery store in Coupeville when I notice Mom digging in the pockets of the spring jacket I gave her a couple Christmases ago: a tan Land’s End classic. Weeks, if not months, often go by before she wears it. I am always the one to suggest it, and she is always delighted to discover she has such a fine coat.
It takes a couple minutes before I figure out what she is snacking on: a fortune cookie stowed away in her pocket. “Fortune cookies don’t ever really go bad, do they?” I think to myself.
We make our way through the store to pick up the few items on my list: mini cinnamon rolls, eggs, and coffee filters. Mom stops every few steps or so to peer at a display and exclaim over how high the prices are. She is having a grand time.
On our drive back home, I suggest we take the scenic route: down a winding road to Ebey’s Landing, up a steep hill, on through the farmland looking out at the Sound and Olympic Mountains, past Fort Casey and the ferry, and on back to the highway. The blue sky and sunshine are what inspired this foray, after all.
As we travel along, Mom leads on with the same conversation we have every time we drive somewhere: the exceptional cloud formations, the trees growing up so tall, the fact that she gave up driving five or more years ago, and the reminiscences of when she used to drive all around on Whidbey Island.
Her desire to go on drives is fairly recent. She used to spurn errands, preferring to work on some outdoor project. Now she wistfully asks most days if we are going somewhere. Tomorrow is our monthly trip up to Burlington to get cat food and shop at Costco. John will drive his big diesel truck, I will sit in the uncomfortable middle spot reserved for those with short legs, and Mom will work her way through the familiar topics that are first-time conversation for her.
One thing will be different. She will probably wear her old blue coat. I think she keeps M & M’s in those pockets.
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