I had dinner with my parents. Which, for any of you that have seen videos from our meals can be quite entertaining, slightly humiliating, and definitely worth watching. However, this meal was a little different. Mom described a lunch she had the week before by herself. So let's travel back a few years....
...In a College English class, we were reading the book Everything Illuminated, by Jonathan Saffron Foer. It's one of those, unapologetically human books, that is so real it hurts your inner heart. Not the heart that just says you're sad, but the inner heart that changes the way you feel and perceive. We were given an assignment to describe what we thought was sad. Not just sad, but sad. Easy. Done. An older person eating alone is by far the saddest thing I can imagine. Why? Why not? I find myself pondering what leads someone to eat alone. No family? No one else was available? Divorced? Widowed? Wants to be alone? Regardless, those are all sad reasons! I sit and wonder, what kind of life have they lived? What stories are behind those drooping eyes? Did they ever know love? Did they know pain? What kind of pain did they suffer? Why is it that no one wants to eat with them? I find myself day dreaming alongside these people while they eat alone, and me with my family, wondering about this person's story. Because you know everyone has a story.
...back to the present. I wasn't so discouraged or saddened by mom eating alone, ironic, right? But she said she experienced a strange phenomenon that day. She was eating alone at a buffet, a quick bite to eat after running her errands. When an older woman from White Birch Estates in Bridgewater (An Independent/Assisted Living Facility) came up to her and said, "Mind if I join you?". It startled mom, but she said yes. Mom said the woman talked her ear off the entire lunch---which if you know my mom---you know is quite the feat. The woman talked about losing her husband of 35+ years and missing him dearly. She talked about being so lonely, and invited mom to come visit her. She was so sad, and just couldn't bear the idea of eating alone one more meal. She said, "Food just doesn't taste the same. You know, since he's gone."
I cherish the lunches and dinners I have with my parents. I hate eating alone for these very reasons, because food just doesn't taste the same unless you're with someone that matters. Someone always says, "I can make the same food at home, but I go out for the atmosphere. I go out for the entertainment and fellowship". I share meals with people, not just because the food tastes better. But it does. Food tastes better when you're with people you love.
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| Dad's first lunchtime experience at Jimmy Johns. It was funny actually. He ordered his meal. Then I ordered mine. Then he wanted to change something. They were already half-way done making his sandwich and had to start again-they were that quick. He was shocked at the quickness that was Jimmy Johns. P.s. The DPC Red is located in Jimmy Johns sandwich wrapping and logo on their cups. |
"I have reflected many times upon our rigid search. It has shown me that
everything is illuminated in the light of the past. It is always along
the side of us, on the inside, looking out. Like you say, inside out.
Jonathan, in this way, I will always be along the side of your life. And
you will always be along the side of mine." -Alex to Jonathan in Everything is Illuminated.
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