A pinch of this, a smidge of that

Right from his era of breastfeeding on demand, my son has continually made it clear that he feels every morsel that passes his lips needs to involve me. Long ago, my daughter began to independently retrieve an apple from the fruit bowl or prepare her own cereal. My son likes food eating to be a collaborative affair. And by collaborative, I mean prepared and presented by me. As a little one, even when the piece of fruit was within reach, he would holler to be fed. I think it's because he likes to be social when he eats and feels that when I send him alone into the kitchen to get a snack, he is being banished.

Lately though, since he's started grade 2, his teacher has been maximizing the use of the school's kitchen garden and he has started to take it upon himself to prepare snacks for himself and us. Last night, he presented a snack to his father of Lunenburg pudding ( a local delicacy, like sausage) sprinkled with cheese, pumpkin seeds and lemon juice. Surprisingly good, this simple snack, signalled deeper changes--a dawning awareness that food brings closeness not just when you are given it, but also when you prepare and share it.

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A Small Craft

I accompanied my mother-in-law to an appointment this week. On the paper, preparing her for the appointment, it invited her bring along something to read or a small craft. As soon as I heard about this invitation to bring a small craft into an otherwise austere waiting area, my mind started to do bouncing somersaults in many different directions. Googly eyes? Glue gun? Feathers? Play clay? Friendship braclets?

The words coming out of my mouth

These days I wear a mask. I don't wear a mask all of the time, only when I am indoors or unavoidably up close with people who I don't usually interact with. I wear one when I am ordering things, or buying things or attempting to enjoy some form of public entertainment. I cannot rely on reading others lips. My lips are hidden. We ask each other to repeat. We move our eyes or our whole heads to try and enunciate more clearly. I say fewer words, more carefully chosen words behind the mask. Sometimes that is helpful, sometimes that just causes more confusion. I walked into the woods. I did not need a mask. I only saw a few other people and they were distanced. Masks were unnecessary. After so much talking and not talking and avoiding talking out loud I am forced to examine when I speak and when I choose not to. This is not a bad thing since I can be an insufferable chatter box, just a new thing for my brain to adjust itself to. When I am not standing aro...

Bringing her back

As the first anniversary finally passed, I exhaled. The sadness still nibbled away at the edges, but not clawing deep into my chest like it had been with varying degrees of ferocity in the twelve months previously. She died in early summer, so I plunged into ocean and lakes and ate fruit straight from the plant. The grief became softer, the folk songs carried me along in the potato patch we planted in therapy. But then, I started to miss her. The deep grief kept her so close and now as the pressure eased, so did her presence. I held my breath and decided to be really sad this morning just to see her face. To sit in her prescence. My breath became jagged as I cried for her, for us. This Taylor Swift cover by Marc Maron broke me right open this morning. Here's to staying broken open enough to keep your loved ones close. And then, I walked into her garden. The garden she envisionied, planted over and over and still pre...

Growing Versions

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