The missing green bowl

This event really has nothing to do with the winery but this memory has been rattling around in my head making me laugh so I thought I would share.

I sadly lost my sister a few years ago to cancer, that of course is not the funny part. She is deeply missed and I relish the memories of her, especially this one.

My mother had, what is now, a vintage green mixing bowl. Now, my mother was no cook by any stretch of the imagination but she loved that bowl. It was present at more holiday gatherings than a lot of relatives. It was used for everything from mixing pancakes, movie popcorn and chips to an assortment of gourmet food my grandmother would make on one of her rare visits from Arizona.

My sister being a young mom and starting her own traditions hosted her first holiday at her house. My mother of course brought her offering for the table in the green bowl. It was few weeks later my mother was asking where the beloved green bowl was. It came to her that it was left at my sisters house at the last gathering. She asked my sister who didn't remember it being left there, but she tore her kitchen apart to no avail, it wasn't there. This began the green bowl war that lasted for a couple years. My mother was insistent my sister had the bowl and was secretly harboring it. We heard about it every holiday and every gathering that the bowl was absent from the table. My sister rolling her eyes as she was accused of keeping the bowl hidden for the 50th time.

One day I went to my sisters for a visit, I was about 15 and was playing hide and seek with my nieces. I couldn't find one of them and looked everywhere, my sister pointed to the corner cabinet, it was one of those cabinets with the dead space in the back. I opened the door and sure enough, there she was squealing with delight at being found. She was crawling over something in a brown paper bag so I grabbed it to help her out of the tight space. It felt like a bowl, staring at my sister I pulled the green bowl from the bag. She gasped as her hands flew to her mouth, "NO"!!! We didn't know weather to laugh or cry so I think we did both!

What to do? My sister was adamant she could not admit she had the dreaded thing all this time, she would never live it down. "Get rid of it, I can't believe that thing is here"! She was really panicking, and anyone who knew my mother understands why. "You will never hear the end of it anyway" I said "It's been years, she won't forget". "You have to sneak it into the house". She pleaded. Fine! We grabbed a box, hid the bowl in the bottom and put some clothes on top, hand me downs my sister was giving me. That was how I would sneak the dreaded thing back into the house and hide it somewhere.

It was my father who picked me up that day and he didn't question the box. Late that night I snuck the bowl still in the brown paper bag and hid it in the top of the closet in the laundry room. I knew my mother had searched the kitchen many times, so putting it in there would raise suspicion. Then we waited.

I was actually home when it happened. My mother reached for the brown paper bag in the laundry room and pulled it down tugging the green mixing bowl out of the bag with the same panicked look my sister had. She just stood there holding it, apparently speechless. I yelled "There it is!" acting as shocked as possible. I called my sister right then to tell her the great news that the green bowl was found, in Mom's laundry room. We all laughed about it, my mother apologized that it was clearly in her possession the whole time.

Every holiday and family gathering after that when the green bowl would make an appearance at the table my sister and I would share a long laugh. To my sister, I miss you, your humor, your laughter, your passion and our friendship. We were the only ones who knew the secret of the green bowl, but now the bowl is out of the bag.

Love always, your little sister.