I would like to revisit yesterday's post wherein an apple pie featured most prominently.
In college, I had some difficulties, as we all sometimes do. The nature of the difficulty that causes me to revisit yesterday's post? One that many of us have dealt with: an eating disorder.
So it is the apple pie brings a specific image to mind, the image of one of the best acts of kindness I've ever experienced. During this time of eating disorder, my roommate would take me to a chain restaurant, the kind that one can find all over the US, the family-style, home-style joints. Once a week, she would take me to this establishment and order one of their signature desserts, hot apple pie topped with cinnamon ice cream; and when it came, she would nonchalantly put the plate in the middle of the table, the two forks akimbo on the china plate, and pretend that that pie, that ice cream, didn't, to put it simply, scare me to death. Then we would eat and pretend, and kept at it, until we could simply eat, and enjoy.
I think often about her kindness and generousity of spirit evidenced in that simple weekly act of hers.
In doing so, she taught me how to be with Batman (code name) when he had to eat a bite of ham sandwich from his lunchbox before he could eat his favored food. (His family had consulted a nutritionist because his sensory affinities gave him one-dimensional nutrition, and he was on a schedule to sample new foods; to do this was most frightening to him.)
Whenever I am on the road, and see that franchise, I must stop.
Here, I say to my family, my joy, have some.
And we are all the more happy for it.
Never assume, dear reader, that an act of yours can be too little or too late.
Right, Nae?
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4 comments:
I find the image from your room mate's favorite chapel a bit incongruous with the generosity of heart demonstrated. (A heart bound and limited by thorns). The suffereing of the Christ is indeed cast as his own generosity, but I do not see or perhaps do not wish to see the connection of suffereing with apple pie.
Dear Artist, your comments are, as always illuminating (to borrow your word)!
The inclusion of the image was somewhat capricious on my part, sort of a "shout out," if you will, should she ever come upon these pages. The image itself was very eblematic of her at the time that I knew her: she felt many constraints, yet sought out what she felt was the Big Love----I believe that was how she even put it. It's been a while.
So I've revised the post. Part of the writing process, yes?
Sometimes one needs to leave only the essential.
Sometimes eating a piece of pie can be suffering. I get this!
:-)!
*laughing*
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