Day 7: I know it may seem suspect that I have not mentioned being thankful for family, friends, health, etc. However, for my own endeavors I want the gratitude for such people and categories to be much more specific and meaningful, so I am allowing those extra special "thanks" to develop and evolve over time. For today, I am thankful for sense memory, specifically a memory of a special food dish. No, it is not the smell of an apple pie baking in the oven reminding me of my mother cooking in the kitchen. But this dish does remind me of a very special person and a very special time in my life. I am thankful for the Greek dish, tzatziki.
This is not a fancy dish and is most often used as a dip. However, it takes me back to 10th grade. My mother had travelled to Greece on somewhat of a pilgrimage. When she arrived home, things changed rapidly. Within months, my mom was enrolled in a school in Santa Barbara, CA to train as a marriage and family therapist. We quickly packed up the house in Alexandria, VA and drove across country just in time for me to start 11th grade. I was more than up for the adventure. It was exciting, albeit scary. And the one thing I remember us making a lot of was tzatziki....a dish of plain Greek yogurt, fresh dill, garlic, cucumber, salt, and lemon. On a hot day, it was divine. It reminds me of my energetic, brilliant mother, an amazing adventure, and the continued hope that life can always change on a dime if we allow the universe to guide us.
So, tonight I make some tzatziki...Yummm. The taste takes me back to a wonderful, simpler time in my life when my mom got to worry about all the logistics of the move while all I had to cope with was teenage angst. Here's to you, Mom!
This is not a fancy dish and is most often used as a dip. However, it takes me back to 10th grade. My mother had travelled to Greece on somewhat of a pilgrimage. When she arrived home, things changed rapidly. Within months, my mom was enrolled in a school in Santa Barbara, CA to train as a marriage and family therapist. We quickly packed up the house in Alexandria, VA and drove across country just in time for me to start 11th grade. I was more than up for the adventure. It was exciting, albeit scary. And the one thing I remember us making a lot of was tzatziki....a dish of plain Greek yogurt, fresh dill, garlic, cucumber, salt, and lemon. On a hot day, it was divine. It reminds me of my energetic, brilliant mother, an amazing adventure, and the continued hope that life can always change on a dime if we allow the universe to guide us.
So, tonight I make some tzatziki...Yummm. The taste takes me back to a wonderful, simpler time in my life when my mom got to worry about all the logistics of the move while all I had to cope with was teenage angst. Here's to you, Mom!
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