Food for thought

I LOVE food! For me eating is one of the most pleasurable experiences in life. It is not only physically enjoyable but is also emotionally satisfying. Some of my most prominent memories center around eating experiences. My earliest memory is of eating Wheat Thins with Cheeze-Wiz in the back on Grandma & Grandpa Howe's camper on a trip to Lovell, Wyoming. I also vividly remember weanie roasts in Grandpa Pyne's orchard, picking gooseberries and raspberries in Grandma & Grandpa Pyne's back yard, and decorating sugar cookies at Grandma Pyne's at Christmastime. My Grandma Howe is famous for her generosity in feeding us every time we came to her house. Ice cream bars, soda, acini de pepi salad, and rice krispie treats will forever be associated with eating at Grandma Howe's. Food preparation is also a highly emotional experience. As a child I took for granted the many hours my Mom spent in the kitchen cooking and preparing delicious foods, but I always felt good sitting down at the dinner table and eating with my family. I now realize what love and sacrifice went into those meals and want to create those same experiences in my own home. It can be tiresome and is often unappreciated, but my hope is that someday down the road my children will look back and recognize that each morsel that entered their bodies was prepared for their benefit by a Mother who loved them.