Hello
fellow foodies. It’s been several months
since my last post of my kitchen endeavors.
Although I have been cooking, experimenting, and creating in the kitchen
and my new Big Green Egg, I have not “felt” like blogging.
You see, my
last blog was on April 29th, 2012, and the next day my mother passed
away. It wasn’t totally unexpected as
her health had not been well. She suffered
a major debilitating stroke almost a decade before, and has been in the same
nursing home for over seven years. Mom
was really sick in the early spring, and I thought then her suffering here
would end at that time. She recovered
and returned to her room at the home.
Mom’s stroke
had paralyzed her all down her right side, and left her unable to speak, read,
or write. She was basically unable to
communicate with us and was frustrated by it most of the time. She could listen though.
She would
recognize us when we would come in, and she would smile that big smile with
half her mouth (stroke drooped one side) and her eyes would always brighten to
see you. She would listen to us tell our
stories of what was going on. She would
laugh at the punch lines of jokes, and she would “reminisce” as we retold
stories of our past. She was not up to
date on any current events, politics, or sports – all of which she could
discuss at length for days before her stroke.
Since her
stroke, I’ve lost my only sibling – my brother, Bill, to a major heart
attack. Then on August 10th,
2010, my father passed away in my own home as he slept. Now with mom’s passing – It’s just me left
from my childhood home. Don’t get me
wrong, I am not alone. I have a
beautiful, loving wife of twenty-six years that is the love of my life, I have
three great and wonderful children that I am so very proud of, but there is
that melancholy of being the only one left.
My
childhood family unit – that place where I was safe, secure and taught to be
the man I am today. The time in my life
where we took family trips to see relatives in other states, played outside all
day until dark-thirty, slept in the backyard on summer nights, and walked to
school and back every day. The time
where you were to be seen and not heard when company came over, the time when
you were eager to make your parents proud with a hand-painted cornucopia you
made in bible school. The time where you
felt your parents would live forever- to be there for guidance, direction, or
just a hug and a smile.
It is my
sincerest prayer that my children will have each other until well into their
own golden years. It is my desire that I
have and am able to give them as great a loving childhood as my parents gave
me. It is my prayer that you tell those
people in your life that are special to you that you love them – before it’s too
late.
God bless,
Richard
