Every Sunday afternoon, they cooked meals together in the farmhouse kitchen.

Christopher would call out from the stove, “Does garlic go in before the onions, Momma?”

“I have been telling you the correct order since you were twelve years old!” Martha would answer with a smile.

“I just want to be absolutely sure,” Christopher would reply happily.

Martha knew he was not really asking about the cooking recipe; he simply wanted to hear her voice and reassure himself that she was still there with him.

So she always gave him the exact same loving response: “Onions go in first on low heat, son.