Just do it now, is our motto as we are reflecting back on the year just lived.

Some days our get up and go is pro forma. Our time to make the donuts occurs in a knee jerk fashion. Some days our knee just jerks. Our Bubby Chicken, for those in the know, phrased the difficult times with “just look away mamala.”

Oh Bubby we believe now more then ever that your schmaltz, more than just a pinch of salt and sugar laden food added wisdom to your 95 years.

You didn’t exercise, but you never sat down. You worked the majority of your life and when you stopped formally working you worked at whatever you did. As you gathered your loved ones around the table, your emotional nutrition sustained us and your cooking created memories that still linger on. We talk about your baking as treasures.

Next week my old friend Linda from 5th grade is giving me a baking lesson. She is handing down a brownie recipe from her mother. L’dor V’dor.

After school when we would hang at her house her mother would treat us to her baked goods and a tall glass of milk.
I remember sharing stories with you about how Linda welcomed me into her group of friends. You taught me the expression “gutte neshema.”
She was my first one.

How lucky my sisters and cousins were to have Our Bubby Chicken. So at this time of year, as we look forward to a New Year, pray for forgiveness and remember our ancestors, why not exhume your Grandma, Grammy or Bubby memories. Hanging with her babies and watching them grow into themselves was her Pilates, her group therapy and our legacy. So Bub, here’s to our days gone by. We carry you in our hearts and tapping into your Sechel gives us reasons to believe, especially when we lose our way.

When we played musical chairs and the music stopped, you pulled over one extra chair so we all stayed in the game. And by the way we now spend more time “looking the other way” as we pull over one more chair. May your neshama have an Aliyah, Bub. B’H.