written by Rev. Max S. Klinkenborg
Ed liked to visit his mother’s sister Aunt Grace at her farm down the road from his own. She had taught him to fish, to plant flowers and to ride a sheep’s back like a bucking bronco. She liked to play, unlike his mother who was always working, took everything very seriously and was quick to scold when Ed forgot his chores or did them wrong.
One morning, after a sleepover at Aunt Grace’s house, she asked if he would take a bowl and go to the hen house to gather the eggs. He was always eager to please his aunt, so he grabbed the bowl from the counter and headed for the hen house. She had taught him to slowly slip his hand under the hens and harvest the eggs that were there.
He nearly filled the bowl and started a run back to the house with the fresh eggs. He cut a sharp corner at the mulberry tree and caught his toe on a root, sending him and the bowl crashing to the ground. All he could think of was what his mother would have said, scolding him and calling him a careless boy. “Don’t you know yet, at your age, not to run with eggs?”
His tears nearly blinded him as he sought the bowl and discovered it was upright on the path, but all the eggs were broken. He picked up the bowl and slowly walked to the house, fearful of what his aunt would say. Unbeknownst to Ed, his aunt had seen it all from the kitchen window. As Ed opened the door and showed her the bowl, she said, “I had my taste set for scrambled eggs for breakfast. Bring it over here and help me pick out the shells.”
(Told to me by Ed who learned the lessons of Aunt Grace and lived them.)