English Muffins with Cream Cheese:

A Grandmother’s Touch

Posted on December 2, 2024 Categories Travel, Grandmother

During the first 6 years of my life, my family vacations were grandparent sight seeing. We either flew to Florida to visit my maternal grandparents or camped in KOAs as we made our 100 mile trek straight west to Willmar, MN, to see my paternal grandparents. Both of my grandfathers passed away when I was around 6, so my memories of them are mostly based on pictures I’ve seen of us together. It’s fascinating how a picture can shape or even replace our memories.

The memories I have of our vacations in Florida are few but vivid. I distinctly recall sitting one morning at the small round white breakfast table. I joined Katie and Gogie—yes, I had nicknames for my mom’s parents, Gogie and Bop. I guess that’s all I managed to utter in my early attempts at verbal communication.

English muffins, perfectly toasted. Warm and soft, with just the jagged tips where each half had been separated before dropping into the toaster’s slots. Gogie placed the English muffins on the table. Before I snatched one to slather it with butter, she said, “I’ll make it for you,” as she reached for the cream cheese. Until then, I had only known cream cheese in association with bagels and lox.

I watched as she spread the English muffin with cream cheese and then topped it with jelly. I never questioned Gogie’s choices, so I accepted this standard Floridian breakfast with my usual response, “Thanks, Gogie.” And then it happened—sweet jelly perfectly melded with pure white cream cheese on a toasted English muffin, made with the care that only a grandmother provides. It was unlike anything I had ever tasted, and that’s saying something for a kid who ate everything in sight.

It was the greatest tasty experience my little world had ever known. Just the thought of Cream Cheese and Jelly on and English muffin instantly triggers a memory, Katie to my left and Gogie standing on the other side of the little white round table with the kitchen behind her. The stick of cream cheese on the table in front of me next to a fancy glass filled jelly jar. The sun is shining on my back and Gogie is gazing at me with a knowing smile and the loving expression all grandmas give their grandsons. It’s my clearest and happiest memory of Gogie and no matter what I do, I can’t erase Katie from the memory.