Sanafawafu

My name is Katherine, and I believe my son Jacob is my comic relief from the struggles of life. I never know what will happen with him from one moment to the next. All I know is that he will bring a smile to my face and laughter will raise my spirits while lightening my heart.

One day at home in Florida, I'm in the living room working on my computer while eating a snack. The previous week a van from a local church visited our community giving out food and I received a large chocolate cookie cake with icing. It was the size of a large pizza, so I sliced it like a pizza and put the sections in sandwich bags with press closures to make it easier to eat and tossed the container. So, while eating out of one of these bags, my son Jacob comes into the room and asks, “Mom, what are you eating?”

Now I don’t know why but for some reason I said, “Sanafawafu.”

Jacob has a puzzled look on his face and says, “Excuse me?”

I say a bit annoyed and yet smiling at the same time, “Sanafawafu, did you think I couldn’t say it twice?”

He say quickly, “No, Ma’am, I mean, Yes, Ma’am. Uh, okay.” Then he walks away. I continue to smile at the joke I have made on him. He doesn’t get very far, just into the kitchen where his dad is and Jacob asks, “Ap (Native American for Father/Dad), what's Sanafawafu?”

“Excuse me, Boy? (this is term of endearment, not a slur)” Dalton asks. “What did you say?”

“Sanafawafu, what is it?” Jacob asks again.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard that group of sounds before, where did you hear them?” Dalton asks.

“From Mom,” Jacob says. “She’s in the living room eating something and when I asked her ‘what are you eating?’, she said, ‘Sanafawafu’. So, what's Sanafawafu?”

“I have no idea,” Dalton says, then he raises his voice and calls, “Kat? (short for Katherine)”.

In the living room where I have been listening to the entire exchange, I say, “Yes?”

“What’s Sanafawafu?” he asks, clearing puzzled.

“Come see,” I say with a smile. Soon Dalton comes down the hall and around the corner with a very puzzled look on his face and followed closely by Jacob with an equally puzzled look on his face. Dalton raises an eyebrow in question, and I point to the sandwich bag next to me on the table. He walks over, looks into the bag, and glances up in surprise. I give him a wink to which he gives me a huge smile as he catches onto my joke, and says, “Boy?”

“Yes, sir?” Jacob asks.

“Ask you Mom if you can have a piece of Sanafawafu,” Dalton says while giving me a wink in return.

“Yes, sir,” Jacob says hesitantly. He steps closer to the living room table and asks, “Mom, can I have a piece of Sanafawafu?”

“Certainly,” I say and wave for him to help himself. He reaches into the bag, and pulls out a slice, raising it to his mouth, he takes a tentative bite – more like a nibble, actually, and begins to roll it around his mouth while staring blankly at the ceiling. Dalton and I watch him amusedly. Clearly, he is expecting it be bitter or nasty because he keep the bite in the front of his mouth so he can spit it out quickly if necessary. Why he didn’t smell the chocolate chips when he lifted the slice to his mouth, I’ll never understand, but we continued to watch with smiles on our faces, as finally the bite melted in his mouth, and he swallowed.

Jacob’s eyes bugged out, he looked closer at the slice of cookie in his hand and said, “Oh, man!” To which we burst out laughing!

After catching my breath, I ask, “What are you a wuss? Have I ever fed you something nasty or degusting? Why did you doubt me now?”

“I don’t know, Mom, but when you said ‘Sanafawafu’ I thought it might be something exotic from your childhood, something only your taste buds would appreciate,” Jacob explains with a sheepish grin and a shrug of his shoulders. “How did you come up with that name, anyway?”

“I don’t know, it just came to me and popped out when you asked what I was eating,” I say with a laugh, which Dalton shares.

“Well, at the very least we have another joke on you, Boy,” Dalton says. “First, Mischief and Mayhem, and now, Sanafawafu!”

“Yes, sir,” Jacob agrees regretfully with a smile.

Later that night in bed, Dalton asked me, "Kat, how are we going to remember how to say that word you made up?"

"I don't know, maybe remember it the way it sounds, 'sa-na-fa-wa-fu'", I say with a laugh.

"Good idea," Dalton agrees with a laugh. "Good-night, Darling."

"Good-night, Lovey." Chuckling together as we fall asleep.

The End.