Memento

I found this bunny when my sister and I cleaned out my parents' apartment.

It was a toy that came with a McDonald's Happy Meal. I can just picture the circumstances.

My dad is out with one of his retired friends, running errands (he couldn't drive for the last couple years of his life, but there were always friends to take him to appointments, etc.). As they're driving back, Dad sees a McDonald's.

"Let's go through the drive-through at McDonald's," he tells his friend. "I think I'd like a Happy Meal." It was hard for Dad to eat during the last year or so, too--he had lost a few molars due to the cancer and meds.

He takes the Happy Meal home and shares the fries with my mom, maybe the cheeseburger, too. He shows Mom the black belt bunny that came with the meal.

"Oh. That's Jane," Mom says. They put the bunny with the photos of kids and grandkids in the bay window. That's where I found it after Mom died.

The bunny's always in my TKD bag now, not so much a good luck charm as a reminder of my parents.