4/18/06
For foodservice personnel the holidays are always hectic. While most of
you are taking off to visit family, we are prepping extra catering orders so
that you will be able to take a pie to Thanksgiving dinner, a bouche de noel
to Christmas dinner, or 2 dozen chocolate dipped strawberries to your
Valentine. Getting a day off during this time is tough and since my
family lives far away from me, travel is out of the question, because by the
time I get there, it will be time to come back.
Thanksgiving Day was my first day off in a while during the holidays,
and I eagerly welcomed it because I had the chance to put on regular clothes,
and look like a girl and not have food be the center my life, I got eat not make. My friend Miranda invited me over to her mother’s house for dinner in a tiny little town called Kirk, AL. I got
lost on the way there and then lost reception on my phone, and all I could
think was God please let me find her soon, so I don’t run in to a redneck
convention and get killed. Anyway, I found the house and she walked me
inside.
As soon as I hit the door I started to feel nervous;
Have you ever had 47 people all the same race, all in the same room, try
not to look surprised to see you? Well I have. It’s really strange and
in retrospect kind of funny. I should have yelled “BOO” but I guess that
would not have been nice of me. Miranda and her mom did their best at making
me feel comfortable and after about half hour I did. We sat on the couch
chatting it up and I ate some of the best food I’ve ever had. As I sat
there I started to feel very grateful that they didn’t want me alone on
a Holiday, despite the fact I was pretty much a pink elephant in the room.
It meant a lot to me. My mind drifted and I thought about special meals
I had shared in the past and the people associated with the memory, and I
realized that I wanted a day off so my life wouldn’t be centered on
food, but some of my best memories were made over meals. So I say to you
something that my friend Barbara had attached to an email…
Food is life, the rest is just parsley.
Love,
andiepandie31
