ONCE UPON A TIME IN MY REAL LIFE ...

Every night before bedtime, I tell my young sons a story. Each story starts the same way - Once Upon a Time, in My Real Life. As you can see, my sons prefer real stories to made up ones. My memory of the past isn’t always quite accurate, so sometimes there is a mixture of what I can remember and creative non-fiction. Last night, as I was recounting the latest chapter from my mommy memoir, I realized that we are doing something very important here – something my own father did for me growing up. We are preserving the Raskopf-Norcross family history through oral tradition. I don’t read the stories off of a computer or from a journal. It all comes from the deep recesses of my mind and the scents, images and touchstone experiences that make me who I am. My family is part of who I am.

Regardless of how independent I felt striking out on my own, that first day of freshman orientation in college, I am still the result of many generations of Hassells, Schreppels, Della Cortes and Raskopfs. My sons will have Norcross family stories to share with their own children, but the generations who came before them offer up a smoke signal of life – of child rearing, careers, voyages, aspirations and family meals.

My greatest memories arise from the meaty, zesty, steamy scents coming from the kitchen. When I was expecting my first child, I embarked on the journey of thumbing through all of my Grandma Josie’s recipe cards, slips of paper stuffed into books and the The Joy of Cooking with little notes scribbled in the side margins. This compilation of recipes and memories became the book, Promise Me Anything … But Give Me Kartoffelklösse, Remembering the Recipes of Josephine Schreppel Raskopf. There are recipes for butter cookies, chocolate cake, fish chowder and of course, Kartoffelklösse (dumplings). I recently dug up my copy of this book (published about six years ago) in a moment of comfort seeking, and realized that the memories came flooding back just from seeing my grandmother’s face and her recipe for almond horn cookies. I was back in my grandparents’ dining room with the mahogany china cabinet where chocolates were secretly stashed away in a crystal bowl at the back. I was looking at the painted pottery along the high shelves near the ceiling. I was feeling the rug fibers beneath my feet. My arms were resting on the big armchair in the corner. I was home.

Last night when sharing another installment of Once Upon a Time in My Real Life, I started off with a memory of buying bagels with my brother at the bakery down the road in Great Neck, and was then transported to my grandmother’s living room again. She was sitting in her chair with the side table lamp. Next to her was a cup of steaming, Tetley tea with lemon only. No milk, no sugar - just lemon in hot tea. My son looked up and said, “that was a nice story mommy.”

Yes, that was a nice story, a nice time, and now he will remember that scene. The family he never knew is sitting beside him, having a cup of tea and watching him grow. I know that my grandparents would have loved seeing my boys grow up, play soccer and practice guitar. I know now that with each bedtime story – they will appear.

Cristina M. R. Norcross
2011

Promise Me Anything ... can be found at the Blurb website (listed under Cristina Raskopf Norcross).
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/20175