I live a blessed life.  I have just spent a glorious week in fascinating Toronto, beautiful Stratford and glorious Niagara on the Lake.   I have had a chance to reconnect with old friends and spend romantic moments with my husband of almost 30 years.  In Niagara on the Lake we had an absolutely gorgeous room in a small inn with a great dining room and splendid views of the perfectly groomed vineyard estate next door.

While I was away, my Mom was admitted to the hospital and since my return I am taking my share of the bedside shifts.  I am happy to be with her and able to relieve my family of the round-the-clock responsibilities.  I was struck by the contrasts of life in my first 24 hours back home.  From visiting our last vineyard, purchasing a bottle of exquisite wine to add to the case that we brought home and visiting a favourite restaurant for a second time, to trying to coax my Mom to have a few sips of soup, to try to swing her legs over the edge of the bed to dangle her feet.  I have sustained myself with cups of tea from her meal trays that she does not want to drink herself, but does not want to go to waste.

As I open another bottle of Ensure to encourage her to drink, I am struck anew with how complex feeding and eating and taste and nourishment all is.  How complex food itself is…  My Mom once had a robust appetite, although it has been less so of late.  Today even though there were potatoes and gravy on her plate which are likely the food that she loves most in the world, she said that she would only eat to oblige me and swallow what she could to get her strength back.  She would eat not for pleasure but because her body required it and she did so for my sake, for love.

Later that same evening as I arrived home from a long and emotional day, there were candles lit on our dining room table.  D had prepared a delicious pasta from grilled vegetables from our crop share and an abundance of tomatoes that were starting to over ripen.  A glass of wine was poured at my seat.  D was showing me how much he loves me in a language that I understand.  Not only was the meal absolutely delicious but he knew that I would be fretting about all the fresh produce that had accumulated in the fridge while we were away and so he cleverly utilized it all in one fell swoop.

His other project this weekend was determining which three favourite suppers that Daughter #2 would like before her imminent departure overseas.  By batch cooking this weekend, he made her feel special and loved and provided the additional bonus of my not worrying about what to fix for supper when I get home from a day at the hospital.

I am struck anew by how interconnected love and food is and by how complex and varied love is: Love of our spouses, our siblings, our elderly parents, love of our children and I am so especially blessed to know the fierce new love of a grandchild.

Kath’s quote: “All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” ― Charles M. Schulz

Love-that is all.

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