(Wendy Cabell, March 10, 2024, Rosh Chodesh (new moon) of Adar, feast day of Our Lady of the Vine/Oak, Saint Anastasia the Patrician of Alexandria and Saint Marie-Eugénie de Jésus. Image from here.)
Upon discovering it's not blue cheese –- it’s ice cream (new moon of Adar, 2024) My Mom makes the ~best~ mint chip shakes. She doesn't use a blender, that ruins it. You have to mix it by hand to get that contrast of liquid and thick, one chasing the other as you sip — till the tummy is comforted, cool. Till my little brothers and stepdad make it a fivesome, we settle round the TV –- our storytime. God willing,
it's Little House On the Prairie, or Remington Steele or Different Strokes tonight. Though I’d even suffer through The Incredible Hulk or The Dukes of Hazzard for one of Mom’s shakes. Flown to too when a migraine looms, it works better than any pill. “I want you to eat this”, says Mom, so simply, small smile. No judgment. Her love stirred right in. Me at age 11 and anorexic, that mint chip shake –- it was the only thing could break through. As digestion now wanes, I replace it with goat milk –- piping hot no less. But it suffices. Mother’s milk by any other name being the same.
*From combined prompts: Think of a food memory you loved or hated as a child, who or what is associated with it, its sensory experience, and how you feel about that food now. A meal that takes you right back. Then free write as inspired by Mary Karr’s The Art of Memoir (from Tresha’s Memoir Made Easy class, March 10, 2024) and Ted Kooser’s “Applesauce” (from Robin Nester (of The Poetry Salon)’s Generative Writing Class, November 25, 2023).
[Info for November 25, 2023: Leavetaking of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos Into the Temple, and feast day of (above) Our Lady of the Rock, the Cyprus Icon of the Mother of God of Mercy, Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Imma of Würzburg. Image from here.]
