Making memories, making jam

The bright sunshine filtered through the gap in the curtains and streamed across the room to warm Snezana's face.
There was a knock at the door and she opened her eyes. Her son Bojan came in bearing a tray of Turkish coffee.


Bojan put the tray down, handed her a cup and sat on the bed.

'This is as strong as I could make it, I thought it would make you feel at home.'

Snezana sipped at the coffee and patted his hand.

'You were born with such a kind heart Bojan, I thought that was enough but then you turned out to be so clever too, and handsome,   I am so proud of you.'

Bojan laughed and stood up,

'It's enough for me that you think that. Take your time getting ready and then Emma is going to show you round the countryside and for lunch. I have got to go to the surgery but will be home this evening and then we will have the whole weekend. It is wonderful to have you here.'

Snezana finished her coffee and went to look out of the window. It was a beautiful  spring day and she could see along the street. There were lots of trees thick with pink or white blossoms, she opened the window to breathe in their scent.

 For a moment she was back in Smederevo, her childhood home. How she had loved the blossom time.

 Her grandfather's voice echoed around her,' See Snezana the blossom is full of spring sunshine and when it falls there will soon be plump cherries and plums. If you look at the blossom closely you will be able to tell which is cherry and which is plum.' Here he would gather up the blossom and hold it out to her.' There is a small split at the end of each petal of the cherry blossom which the plum doesn't have. the blossom would fall like snow and her grandfather told her that her name Snezana meant Snow Princess.  Her grandmother taught her how to  make jam with all the wonderful abundant supply of fruit that grew in the fields around them. Cherries, damsons, plums, but it was the strawberries she loved the most. Snezana would pretend the strawberries were princesses with little green crowns and sweet faces. Her grandmother always said that making strawberry jam was like storing up love and sunshine for the Winter. She said that children were a bit like that too, they needed lots of love when they were little to cope with what lies ahead. Snezana couldn't imagine any other life then. She shivered as she thought of her life and how broken hearted her grandparents would have been if they had known.

Snezana sighed and went to get ready to join Emma her English daughter-in-law.


xxxxx

Emma opened the car door for her mother-in-law. She had seen her many times on Skype and Bojan had taught Emma to say simple phrases but she knew it would be a problem to communicate so she had asked Bojan to tell his mother that she had decided to take her out into the countryside and show her the blossom and bluebell woods. They would stop for a sandwich in a pub and then meet up with him at home after his surgery.
It was a beautiful day and Emma smiled at Snezana and pointed to the blossoms as they drove along. Snezana could only nod and smile back. After awhile they drove past a large farm with a sign with a picture of strawberries saying 'Pick your own' and Snezana motioned for Emma to stop.
They parked the car by the Farm shop and got out. There was a stack of baskets and a counter with a weighing machine and Snezana went towards them clearly showing her intention. Emma smiled and followed. She hadn't done anything like this since she was about eight years old when she went to stay with her grandmother in Suffolk.
The two women took a basket each and went to the nearest row of strawberries. Emma watched her mother-in-law bend down and fill her basket with the strawberries, expertly and quickly.
She looked so much like Bojan when he was excited about something that Emma couldn't help laughing.
 It was Bojan's enthusiasm that had first drawn her to him. That and his handsome kind face.  Now she could see how he had taken after his mother and there seemed to be no trace of the father who had abandoned them.
 They had the same bright blue intelligent eyes and soft blonde hair, the same tall build., but last night Emma had noticed a guarded look that hinted at hidden depths of pain in Snezana's eyes.
All she knew from Bojan was that Snezana had gone to work in Italy and Germany, leaving him in the care of his grandmother like many other young women from her village.  She had sent so much money home for his studies and he had worked hard knowing instinctively that it was her gift to him.
 Bojan had rewarded her by winning a  scholarship to a British university and was now a highly acclaimed GP in Oxford.
Emma had met him while working as a Physiotherapist and it had been love at first sight for both of them. They had married five months after their first date. Emma's parents had retired to live in Shropshire and opened a Bed and Breakfast but they came to the Registry Office wedding and paid for a  honeymoon in Scotland.
It had taken Bojan a long time to get the permits for his mother's visit and he was looking forward to showing his mother around the beautiful English countryside.

Snezana's basket was full and she went to fetch another one. Emma couldn't think what they'd do with all this fruit and then as if reading her mind Snezana picked up a jar near the till put in a strawberry and pointed to it.

Emma laughed, ' Jam! You want to make jam! Of course! What a great idea!'

When they'd paid for all the strawberries Emma drove into town and showed Snezana round the supermarket where she picked up sugar, lemons and then some glass jam jars. She paid for them all herself, pushing Emma gently but firmly aside.

At home Emma showed Snezana  round the kitchen taking out saucepans and wooden spoons and then sat and watched as Snezana deftly prepared the fruit and all the ingredients. Soon the kitchen was filled with the smell of summer, of promises of sunshine and fruit pies and happy laughing company. Emma made them both some coffee and they sat admiring the filled jars of strawberry jam.

The door opened and Bojan came in. His face lit up at the sight of the women that he loved so much sitting there in such a companionable way.

 Emma ran to him and kissed him and hugged him, and then beckoned to his mother to join them. The three of them stood there hugging each other, and looking at the jam. Emma moved away and beamed at them. Then she patted her flat stomach and mimed rocking a baby. Bojan and his mother stared at her then simultaneously broke out in a gabble of their own language, laughing and talking at the same time.

xxxxx

As Snezana prepared for bed that evening, the house quiet and peaceful, she thought of her son and his lovely English wife in the room near her, whispering in joyful tones about the baby on the way and, for the first time in her life, she felt proud of herself .

She had worked so hard to earn the money so her son could study and be free, to make something of his life. No-one would ever know what it had cost her, how her spirit had been broken so many times but the thought of Bojan had kept her going.
The thought of Bojan and the joy and sunshine that her grandparents had given her long ago in Smederevo.  Like the strawberry jam she thought, we must bottle up sunshine while we can to keep us going through the dark times.

Bluebell woods near Oxford