Superbowl Sunday Morning

Superbowl Sunday Morning

I want this to be a normal Superbowl Sunday again
I want you to hear you puttering around in the kitchen
The chop, chop, chop of onions being minced
The clang of the pans as you remove one from the pile in the disorganized cupboard

Stirring and
food processor whirring and
sausage sizzling in a pan

You busy doing what you love the most

I want to listen once again to those sounds of you,
the living, breathing man I loved,
as I write here in my office

My quiet, quiet office in this quiet, quiet house

I want you to yell across the house to me when you can’t find the
tomato sauce or
the little can of mushrooms
And hear you plunking down the basement stairs to look in the larder for a spare

I want to hear your favorite music playing
even though I can’t stand most of what you love

I want to hear you singing out loud about diamonds on the soles of her shoes

I want to hear the microwave slam
the water running
the sounds of you making a huge mess that you mostly clean up

You cook
I’ll clean

I want to listen to those sounds once again
As you prepare a delicious feast of

Zeb’s beans or
Chicken soup or
Chili and cornbread or
Stuffed peppers or
Ribs – made with your favorite special bake-in-the-oven recipe from Julie or
English muffin little pizzas

Maybe all of that – you always make too much and that’s okay

On this Superbowl Sunday without you
I just want everything back to the way it was

About Katherine Billings-Palmer

Katherine Billings Palmer is a retired technical writer and author who lost her husband to lung cancer shortly after celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary. She began writing through her grief in an online journal of feelings, thoughts, memories, and poetry on her personal blog: The Writing Widow.

Katherine published a series called “A Widow’s Words,” three books composed of essays and poetry about her struggles to cope with and work through her grief. She also published a small book of poetry, I Wanted to Grow Old With You; a humorous book of anecdotes from her grandsons, I Didn't See That Coming; and her most recent book, A Grieving Heart: Poems of Love, Loss, and Healing for Widows and Widowers, which includes more than 60 poems about coping with grief.

All books are available in print and ebook through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo.

Katherine’s biography and blog can be found at her website: The Writing Woman. She also posts her poetry and prose on Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, and Substack @thewritingwoman.

Websites: thewritingwoman.com and thewritingwidow.com
Amazon: katherine-palmer
Instagram: @thewritingwidow and @thewritingwomandotcom
LinkedIn: katherinegpalmer
TikTok: @thewritingwoman
Substack: @thewritingwoman
Bluesky: @thewritingwoman.bsky.social
Pinterest: TheWritingWidow