Soul Food and Life Recipes

I just had a conversation with my Great Aunt. She asked me who I'm dating now. She asks every single time I speak to her. Sometimes twice in one conversation-the woman is determined to marry me off. It never fails. I can't tell her about my 2010 mission to remain single because then I would have to explain the Internet and Blogs and well I opted to give her the "I'm just focusing on work excuse." Now she's somewhat of a comedian, a dash senile, and absolutely the greatest person I know. I'm convinced she should be deemed a National Treasure. The woman is brilliant. She speaks 5 languages, has traveled to all but 2 continents, is 80 something and teaches every single day. She's a walking masterpiece. Oh, and she's a Super Cougar. Now Aunt Mae the genius. One day, about 5 years ago, she asked me the ingredients to cornbread. I quickly said," Eggs, milk and a box of Jiffy." She was offended. So, off to the store we go-Aunt Mae complaining the whole way about my driving. My punishment for suggesting a damn box of Jiffy. Together, we picked out every single ingredient aisle by meticulous aisle starting with corn meal. I admit, I was a little annoyed. I wondered why she insisted on doing this the hard way, why we couldn't just use Jiffy and more importantly, WHY are we making cornbread when she can't cook to save a life? But I stayed silent. Ugh, I was slowly starting to hate cornbread. Anyway, in line for checkout, I realized Aunt Mae added chocolate chips to the collection of ingredients. She watched me as I picked them up. She said, "They were on sale." I thoughtlessly tossed them on the counter. She asked,"Do chocolate chips go in cornbread?" I was confused and completely tired of this bogus mission. Honestly, I thought she might have dipped too deep into the Chiraz. She smiled and said, "Chocolate chips don't go in cornbread and never forget it." She told the Cashier we didn't need any of the items we spent 50 minutes searching for, and walked away. That was 5 years ago. Only now do I realize what she meant.

I been adding chocolate chips to my cornbread. Making exceptions for sale items even when I don't need (HIM.) I must send her flowers. If only I listened then! Day 2. Time to clean house.