Mom

There’s nothing culinary about cold, smeared toast and rubbery scrambled eggs thrust towards my sleeping head. But that kind of meal isn’t for filling the stomach, it’s for filling the heart.

On Mother’s Day, I think less about what I deserve to get and more about what I still hope to give. There’s so much more to show, so much more to taste and discuss and cry about and laugh with…

Will my beautiful and ungraceful daughter be adventurous enough to find and appreciate an off-the-path cafe during her first trip to Spain? Will she ever embrace fish? Will she understand the power of a woman who grabs the list and confidently orders the wine? Coming home from work, smelling like pizza, she’s beginning to love the industry she ignored for so long …

Will my logical and mathematical son ever learn to ignore the recipe and work from his gut? Will he move beyond the simple rolls in his sushi journey? Can he learn to stop fearing every bit of mold on a piece of cheese? Paradoxically, this one will always try something unfamiliar from the menu…

Will the awkward athlete finally understand that I am not trying to poison him with whole grains? Will he ever grasp the idea that what you eat can either build you up or tear you down? In his future life, will he rebel against me and go kookoo for Cocoa Puffs or subconciously balance his meals with a zucchini here and there? My biggest mission is to open his eyes to see that all cheese is not alike….

What will my fat and sassy young one remember? Will he remember the days we had to ourselves, the others trapped in school, and our lunch dates? Will he remember his four-year-old Fridays as fries-day, the day we always seek out the best spuds our towns can offer? Will he remember it like I remember Coney Island Thursdays at our local A&W with my own Mom? Sitting in the car, with our huge frosty mugs of root beer on the tray perched precariously on the window of her light blue VW Bug, I would scrape most of the onions off before I excitedly bit into my hot dog. I looked forward to that day all week, that special day when I got my Mom all to myself … a day when sharing a hot dog meant so much more than just lunch.