Hold 'em Close and Tell 'em You Love 'em

 

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 29^th, 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 10^th, 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