Food Friday: Sustenance

We come home after a day of work. Whatever that work has been, we’re tired, we’re still spinning in our minds, frazzled and exhausted.  It’s not just us, the kids are spent too.  Everyone is tired and ready to end the day.  We look up to the clock, in 12 hours, over the course of which, we’ll sleep 7 hours; then we’ll start it again.  And it’s still four hours until bed time.

Many days it’s overwhelming, and imaging dinner in the midst of it – food, sitting and eating, and dealing with three tired children and two adults is enough to….

And I set the table, sometimes with Kyle and Owen, sometimes alone.  Our “wedding plates” go out, with the silverware.  Smaller plastic glasses for the boys, taller glasses for us.  Meera’s pink bunny plate and cup, and her own “pinkware”. Ikea towels for napkins for all of us.  Heather is cooking dinner.  We can smell:

garlic and oil; lemon, browning chicken, fresh parsley, tomato….

fresh fish with lemon, rice, salad with homemade vinagarette

blackened asparagus

The kitchen is warm and safe, Meera is in her little dress, Owen in his ‘vitaman man’ costume, Kyle looks like he’s 15 and belongs in a cool-boy catalog.  Heather wears an apron, which still strikes me as funny since when I met her she took pride in not being able to boil water; but she is dressed for work, and it’s hard to get oil out of clothes. We light the Haiti candle in the center of the table – it’s just a little candle we put “we love Haiti” stickers on but it means a lot to us.  We don’t light it every night, but a lot.

Heather calls out “Sup-per Tiiiiime!!!” and we all rush to the table.  Sometimes we struggle to get everyone sitting down at the same time, and somehow Meera seems to find her way to the table first, working super hard to climb up to her chair.   An amazing meal loads onto this rectangle in the center of our home. This center of our home, this center:

pasta with garlic, parsley and olive oil; chicken, artichokes and tomatoes in a delectable sauce

turkey & broccoli rabe over penne

thai green curry chicken, rice

We sit, I see stream rising from the stove and the smells have migrated to where we sit, the noise of cooking has abated, the noise from running around has abated the noise in our heads is abating.  We hold hands for Grace.  I hold Owen’s hand, Owen holds Meera’s hand, Meera hold’s Kyle’s hand, Kyle hold’s Heather’s hand; Heather and I make the circle complete.  For a brief instance there is total unison:

God is great,

God is good,

We give thanks for this food,

And help us to to be ever mindful of others needs and wants.

Amen.

The kids dig in, Heather and I take a deep breath, glance at each other and eek out a tired smile. Somehow, and I really don’t know how, she has done it again.  Fed our whole family. Given of love, given of herself.

Kyle eats three plates full; Owen two. I have seconds and thirds.  I taste every fresh ingredient. It’s the best meal I’ve ever had…since the last one:

garlic, oil, artichoke, chicken, parsley, pasta, love.

The boys switch plates since one likes the meat, the other likes the pasta.  Meera starts asking for “pop” “pop” “pop”.  We think she wants Papi, until Owen corrects us and explains she wants a lollipop (“Meera, you want a lollipop?”), which actually means she wants a juice popsicle.  She gets one and gets it all over the table.

The boys make jokes and Owen acts up a little.  Kyle wants to sit on my lap for a while.  Meera gets down and plays her mini-xylophone.  We all applaude her playing. Heather and I sit back for a few minutes and relax, the boys throw a few koosh basketballs.

It’s time for bath; the world feels new again.  Refreshed.  The house is warm and safe. Settled.

Sustenance.