Over the last few months we have had a lot of house guests. At various times throughout my mom’s illness we have housed my mom and dad, my sister, Kath, her husband, her two girls, my sister Allyson, her hubby and their little baby. Along with my family of four this adds up to quite the brood in our modest home. 99% of the time it has been a joy. However the one major challenge has been keeping the masses fed. The extra “stuff” doesn’t bother me. My kids have had built in playmates and I have had the support of my family whenever I needed it. But feeding this many people? Not fun.
As most of you know, I am no cook. I actually abhor cooking and pretty much anything kitchen related that doesn’t involved the eating part. Kath loves to cook and bake and Allyson makes a mean curry and salads to die for. But even they found this task a daunting one. With so much else going on and so many hungry people we were finding meals a major chore.
That brings me to the title of my post, When Food Is Love. So many of our friends and family wanted to help us through this tough time and show their love and support. They wanted to ease the burden a bit with a token – the gift of food. And what a gift it was! After days at the hospital or evenings scrambling to organize everyone the many meals provided by friends and family were an indescribable help. We had lasagnas and chili and salads and sandwiches. What may have seemed to them like a small gesture made a huge difference and I thank them profusely for taking away some of the stress of mealtime and sending their love in an edible form.
I will always remember this and the difference it made. When I am searching for ways to help a friend going through a tough time I will remember that at times like these, food is love.
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I hear ya!! The best gift we received when my son was born, was a meal from our favorite chinese restaurant! My son didn’t need another outfit or blanket, but oh man, did we ever need a tasty meal.
A few years ago, I attended a lecture and the speaker told us she made bread every week. Two loaves. One for her family and one to give away.
Nice eh?
I definitely identify food with love! A kind friend showing up at the door with lasagna speaks a million words of love.
There definitely was some incredible food and thanks so much to those who catered for the vegetarian!! So appreciated. I still have to get Carol’s desert recipe – oh so sinful!
You know, the meals were soooo amazing, but the ziploc bag full of several dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies from Britta was still my favourite!
I remember when my son had his open heart surgery 12 years ago. We came back to a freezer full of food stoked by our friends. Made life so much easier.