Grandma's good cooking

What is patriotism but the love of the good things we ate in our childhood? - Lin Yutang

Lately, I've been thinking about my grandmother's cooking. When I was small, and her fingers still agile, she would make me and my sister these delightful little animal-shaped pancakes (without the use or convenience of additional utensils). There would be raisins or chocolate chips for eyes, nose, and mouth. Sometimes, ears or appendages were made from fruit. And the taste... heavenly.

There were so many things she made in my childhood in Minnesota, that she doesn't or can't make anymore due to age. I remember home-made ketchup that packed a nice bite, and stews that contained ingredients that years of guessing would never yield. Whenever eating in that home, I always felt as if she had worked hard to create something that would provide health, as well as enjoyment. I suppose the love she instilled in her cooking was the one component that was never missing (or in short supply). I do miss that.

After all these years, the food consumed at my grandparents' home remains my strongest and best memory of my childhood. Thoughts of those meals brings me back to days when life was simpler (for myself if for no one else). And for whatever the reason, that feels like missing home.

"What if the mightiest word is love?"

I love America. I love the world. Brotherhood and sisterhood have no borders. My heart orbits the Earth, love cannot be measured in longitude and latitude. - Valentine Sterling

It's been three weeks since the historic inauguration heard 'round the world. And it feels as though it needs some reminiscing already. Yes, some partisanship in Congress is occurring, but I think for the most part, people want to believe in the message that our brand-new President is constantly forwarding to the country.

I didn't have the pleasure of attending the festivities in Washington, D.C. on January 20th, but I watched with a strange awe and confirmation of my already strongly held beliefs that we, as a people (and even some foreign peoples), were finally coming together on the same page. Yes, there will be challenges, and we won't always agree on everything. But in that moment, when President Obama took that most solemn oath, a message was sent around the world, loud and abundantly clear, that the status quo, the seemingly endless bigotry, and the sense that we lack connection between us all is coming to an impressive end. It was a message that gave a hope never felt before - a hope filled with oneness.

Through the television screen I felt the bristling, electric air that the millions of gatherers felt on the National Mall, peering up at the monuments around them, hearing those words. I felt the love - a hearty, real, omnipresent love. The kind that makes you think that anything is possible.

What if we felt this all the time? Every moment of everyday we could be aware of the love we have for one another - friend, stranger, family, foreigner, neighbor. What if it was in our every thought and action? What would the world be like then?

Elizabeth Alexander was right in asking, "What if the mightiest word is love?"

What we all long for...

Acceptance. It is the true thing everyone longs for. The one thing everyone craves. To walk in a room and to be greeted by everyone with hugs and smiles. And in that small passing moment, you truly know you're loved, needed, and accepted. - Rena Harmon

Last night, I had the great fortune to catch the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, Front of the Class. If you missed it, once on DVD, you might want to check it out.

The true story follows the life of Bradley Cohen, a young man who, plagued from childhood with Tourette's Syndrome, overcame odds to become a second grade teacher. Despite encountering ignorance of the disability many, many times, he finally found the right school (and administration) to accept him and his condition. They also grew to know him as a fantastic educator.

And all it took for him to reach great heights was for others to accept him as he was.

Just think how every hardship, every ambition, every dream, despite all difficulties, would make our most sought after goals more possible.

It seems we all want this same thing: acceptance. It is one of our many commonalities as human beings. To be who we are, and loved anyway; that is one of the greatest things one could ever hope for.

Baby, baby!

This post is in honor of my niece, Lily Rae, who will soon be ten months old, has already been weened from the boob, gotten a tooth, and learned to walk. Oh, and apparently she knows all she needs to to get along in the world. Perhaps she went right from nine months to nineteen years old. They grow up so fast these days!

On the wall of her nursery, my brother-in-law painted the quotation (that I suggested, by the way):

Babies are bits of stardust, blown from the hand of God. - Barretto

What a wonderful thought! We start from somewhere (and thing) divine enough to think we deserve to be born in such a remarkable way. Like the potter, the glass-blower, the painter.

But as children often do, Lily reminded me of some of my favorite quotes that remind us of the wonder and imagination of childhood.

I hope you enjoy!

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real." "Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit. "Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt." "Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?" "It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." - Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

"If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you." - A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh