Bass Mitchell took the old...
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Bass Mitchell took the old mason jar out of the fridge. On the lid, written in blue marker, it said: BB Jelly '95 BHR. Bass knew immediately what it meant -- Blueberry Jelly, Made in 1995, by Bennie Harold Rackley. Bennie was Bass' father-in-law who died suddenly of a heart attack while standing at the kitchen sink making something else. Bass writes: "The sweetest sorrow came over me. I started having images of this kind, godly man out planting those blueberry bushes in his backyard (which I had seen and eaten from many times), him watering and fertilizing them, protecting them in the winter, protecting them from pests, watching them daily for signs of fruit, then picking those berries, preparing them, putting them in jars ... putting so much of himself in this simple gift ... and the wonderful, strange feeling came over me that he was in that jar ... that I was communing with him still ... it had always been good jelly but it has had a deeper sweetness since then ... and when I shared this with my family around the table, it seemed as if he was there, present with us. I wanted to put an extra chair there ... "How very much of himself, his very life's blood he put in this. Simple items, but infused with new meaning, new sweetness. For in it we experience a sweet communion with him and one another." -- Mosley
