Pickle and Sprite

It was 8pm on New Years Eve. I picked up the phone and dialed Pat's number. She had been sick with a bad virus, I could tell it in her voice as she picked up.

"Hello?"
"Hello, Pat! It's Janice."
"Oh, Hi."
"Do you have your Sprite ready?"
"what?"
"I have my pickle, do you have your Sprite?"

I met my mom's cousin Pat for the first time when I was 8. My parents had invited Pat to spend the Christmas holiday with us. Pat's mom has just passed away, and this would be her first Christmas without her Mom. After Pat's Mom passed,  she stayed in that same apartment just up the street in Weston, Ontario, where her Mom was buried. Pat's Dad had passed away when she was my age. My Mom and Pat had gone to Teacher's college together and had always been not just cousins but good friends. I didn't know what to think of Pat, she was so tall and she had a really boisterous laugh.
When Mom and Dad decided to go out for New Year's Eve they said I would stay with Pat. That was fine with me.

It was just minutes to midnight, Pat was sitting on the couch with me and we were getting ready to watch the ball drop.
"Wait!" she blurted "what is your favourite treat?" she asked me with a huge grin on her face.
I was so taken aback all I could think to stammer was "dill pickle"
"OK, go get one and we will celebrate in style!" Pat didn't drink alcohol so she went to get a fresh Sprite from the pantry.
I was 8, it took very little to get me excited! I ran to the kitchen and came back with a dripping pickle.
"ok" she said "when the ball drops and it is officially 1980 we can clink pickle and Sprite!"
"sounds good to me!" I laughed with a toothless grin plastered across my face.

And so began a pickle and Sprite tradition that would last over 3 decades. Pat had a stroke this week and I can't talk to her, she doesn't know me or anyone else who loves her. I sure am glad I picked up the phone and dialed her number on December 31st, 2010.