The origin of The Perfect Container

This is Bea.

It only makes sense to start here since she is the originator of the concept of "The Perfect Container".

An avid cook, Bea always took an odd pride in her ability for spatial relations, being able to select the perfect sized plastic container to fit the food to be put away. Call it a quirk, but she was good at it. After putting away said food, she was quick to announce to anyone within earshot "Look, the perfect container!".

Bea was my grandmother. She died last year, on June 9, 2012, just a couple weeks before the birth of my first child. We knew it was the end, but I couldn't bring my round self to go and see her. Already a hormonal emotional mess, I was afraid to face her- not because of any sort of guilt or family issue, but because I knew that I would have to say goodbye, much like I did with her husband, my grandfather, seventeen years prior.

But she was already gone, having slipped away for years into the nebulous world of dementia.

I saw her three months earlier when I was just beginning to show the first signs of the real pregnant belly. By that time her world had reduced to just a few inches in front of her. She was barely aware of my presence while we sat and ate ice cream together, my mother feeding her gently. It was all I could do to hold in the tears. I had seen her before, but not like this.

Not like this.

And so I was afraid to see her even farther inside of herself as she slipped away from a blood clot that began in her leg and slowly traveled to her heart. The same way her mother died some sixty years earlier. We were almost relieved when she developed the clot, finally seeing a possible exit for her. Despite the loss of her mind, her body was still exceedingly fit and healthy. She broke her hip a couple years earlier at 90 and was up and moving around just a few short weeks later. Not that she had any idea where she was going.

Bea.

Maybe this is my homage to her. The perfect container. Not just for leftovers, but for all that life can contain. We will see where this road leads.

Welcome.