“They’ll be friends, I hope. Cousins almost the same age. How’s the party?”

“Great. You know. Always fun, always lots of love.”

“Troy and I were too nervous to eat dinner, so we’re going out to celebrate. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Mom. Okay?”

“Sure.” Disney’s mouth opens to a grin while his tail slaps the floor. “Get a good night’s sleep.”

“Mom.” Her voice is somber. “I know this is weird, but when I thought I couldn’t have a baby, I thought of Dad. It was like a piece of him died again, like he ended in another way. You know? Like I disappointed him. Now, in a way, he continues. You know?”

“Yes, I do. I was thinking something like that myself.”

“Mom, I love you. So much. And thanks.”

“Thanks? For what?”

“For just being my mom.”

“Ah, darling. You don’t need to thank me for that. It’s been my pleasure. And more. I love you.”

“Me, too. Bye,” she says and hangs up.

CHOCOLATE

Chocolate. How we love it. It’s the dessert of love and celebration. The Aztecs considered it the drink of the gods. Chocolate contains a substance that mimics being in love, and has a mild marijuana-like effect in producing euphoria and decreasing stress. It also contains caffeine. Yet the story of chocolate is tied to colonization, trade struggles, slavery, smuggling, blackmarkets, and finally, huge worldwide acclaim and modern industrialization.

The tree that produces the chocolate bean, the cacao tree, is native to Central and South America. It’s a fussy tree, needing exact temperatures, constant moisture, and a canopy of larger trees, usually banana and rubber, to protect it from too much sun. It is also subject to fungus and pests. The flower, which is fertilized by a particular species of fly, grows right on the trunk. Only a few flowers become the fruit that’s the size and shape of an American football. The pod contains the beans, which are split open, fermented, and then dried. One tree produces only a pound or two of beans a year.

The Aztecs and the Mayans drank chocolate mixed with honey, vanilla, and chile three thousand five hundred years ago. Try some coffee, cocoa powder, and a smidgen of cayenne pepper. It’s fabulous. Chocolate was the drink of soldiers and the elite, but it was also common at large festivals and celebrations. Drinking chocolate, like smoking tobacco, followed the meal and had some connection with blood, perhaps because of its ritual use during human sacrifice. The beans themselves were used as money, so literally, money was growing on trees. When Columbus discovered a canoe laden with cacao beans, he knew their use as coins but did not realize they contained far greater potential riches as a drink and confection.