Dark Chocolate Magical Thinking

We lost electrical power service for a week or so after Hurricane Milton. As soon as we were able to venture into the Wild West that is Florida driving without working stoplights—old geezer moment, but honestly! People! It's a 4-way stop! Take turns! How hard is the concept?—my favorite skipper and his Mamma Pat and I went to our house and cleaned up a bit. 

I am beyond lucky in my mother-in-law, who willingly swan-dived into the fridge and not just cleaned it out but–Cleaned. It. OUT.  

Grateful, I left her to it, only snatching a couple of luke-warm Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Kisses from the discard pile.

Not a huge chocolate fan, and these days I don't think I can even eat them (the milk sensitivity keeps dialing up and up), but these cold purple cones connect me to my own mom. 

Mumsie lived in a cute little bungalow in Northeast St. Pete. Messy, cozy, full of books and dust and pets, her house was both a haven and an irritation for my sister and me.  

​Entropy was strong in that place, especially after Mumsie retired. It became habit to perform a quick de-squalorization upon arrival.  

Mumsie was not really a fan of her daughters bustling around tidying up her mess, but she loved us beyond measure. A student of our likes and weaknesses, she learned that a supply of dark chocolate in the refrigerator would oblige us to sit down, stop grousing about the pizza boxes, and simply savor one or two Specials in her company.

So it happened that when we cleaned out Mumsie's house that final time, I seeded my own fridge with purple foil-wrapped treats left over from her Frigidaire. And over the past decade and a half, I've periodically renewed my supply.

It's magical thinking to imagine that, lo these many generations later, any of those chocolate nuggets might be one direct from Mumsie. And it's magical thinking to imagine an alchemical charm transfers from the old stock to the new. 

But the reason I snatched a couple from the brink is because those kisses are going back into the cheese drawer.  And I'm buying a new package to empty on top of them. 

And I will know, deep in my bones where magic doesn't need to make sense, that these are kisses from Mumsie.