We were away for the weekend, and it was a good, GOOD time. I personally played Singing Star with my brother and sister-in-law so much that my voice is still hoarse and raspy today. I also spent all of our money and now we are paupers. Well-dressed paupers.
GOOD times.
The ride home yesterday afternoon was hilariously awful – the hottest day of the summer, maybe, and there we were in our air-conditioning-free vehicle, driving home for HOURS with our squabbling children. And since we’re practically Amish, we don’t have one of those little car dvd players to distract them from their inter-car conflicts, which is a decision I always rethink whenever we’re in the car for longer than three minutes. But we made it home, everyone present and accounted for and rather bad-tempered and discovered that there was NO FOOD in our house and that all of the stores in town were closed.
YIKES.
There is, I should add, SOME food in our house – I have the world’s largest stockpile of canned lentils and beans, for one – but nothing that really sang out to be eaten. My husband made some pasta (I actually believe that pasta is one of those self-replenishing things, like that magic blanket in the fairy tale), and I cheerfully made some plans to go shopping the next morning, which would have been fine, EXCEPT my older kids have an all-day VBS this week and LUNCH MUST BE PACKED IN.
DOUBLE YIKES.
The Girl very calmly set to work, finding yogurt, grapes and juice boxes for the next day. But we were out of anything that could become sandwiches (no bread! no tortillas! no crackers!) and out of anything that could go in a thermos and it looked pretty grim.
"We will make lentil soup," The Girl said calmly, and the two of us stood side by side in the cooler evening, peeling carrots and chopping celery and garlic and apples and onions, letting handfuls of dried red lentils fall through our fingers, pouring golden broth on top and adding cumin, curry powder and ginger to the slow cooker, letting the fragrant smell drift through our house as the kids put on their pajamas and brushed their teeth, home again. This morning I heated up the vibrant yellow and orange soup and smiled at it, at our one stone soup, this magical blanket of plenty that we made out of nothing.
And later this morning – when the older kids have been delivered to VBS, their lunchbags clutched in their hands for the first time in months – The Baby and I will go grocery shopping, filling our cart with crackers and bread and fruit, letting the empty spaces in our fridge and cupboard fill back up, like an exhaled breath.
I just can hardly wait until the LG is old enough to help me in the kitchen. When we were in WA, her Grandma Carole was teaching her how to stir. So cute.
I have the loveliest image of you and your daughter making soup together. Makes me happy just thinking about it. Thanks for this.
I love your posts – you are real! and funny! and rueful (? is that a word) over your life choices!
You spin words into fine candy, my friend.
beautiful post – i’m a big fan of lentil soup! we call it “daal” and it’s a daily staple. i’m very impressed that your kids eat it. we should trade recipes!
Your girl is so clever. She seems like she can just about run a household on her own.
Another beautiful post Beck!
Even when we think we have nothing, we have much.
stone soup takes a certain measure of talent. i for one, would look at those ingredients and start planning our early funerals for certain we would all starve to death once we ran out of carrots to nibble on.
also, hello, what a metaphor for your writing. we have nothing for lunch, oh, i’ll just turn that situation into pure poetry where grown women get all misty-eyed about lentils.
geesh, you’re good, girl.
and glad to see your post has no ‘adult content’-thinking my church computer was feeling a little oversensitive yesterday. haha.
Oh good grief, Beck. You have so much talent. That was breathtaking.
Wow Becky – that brough tears to my eyes! Beautiful!
Really, perfect. I’m exhaling now.
Beautifully written, Beck.
Marta
VBS is Vacation Bible School – like a Christian kids’ day camp.
I’ve had to get creative over lunches before – and lentil soup sounds wonderful. What a nice post 🙂
We are definitely technophiles and each kid has their OWN DVD player for the van. Still doesn’t necessarily prevent bickering and definitely raises the noise level!
Am I the only one who doesn’t know? What is VBS?
You could write a book about it – I can see the page now:
The Girl, standing at the stove, looking very sober, saying, “We will make some lentil soup.”
Wow — soup!
BTW, do the almost-Amish have CD players, or even cassette players in their car? I keep my 3 kids silent and relatively peaceful in the car by playing audiobooks ad infinitum. Right now it’s Little House on the Prairie (from the library). Other crowd-pleasers are THe Incredible Journey and Trumpet of the Swan. And CDs from Jim Weiss of Greathall Productions.
Just a suggestion.
Sounds delicious! What a wonderful Girl you have to be able to think clearly and get busy!
Thank you for posting this. I have had this experience–that of needing to pack lunches and having nothing in the house for sandwiches–more times than I care to remember. I always felt like such a bad mother, but now I know that this happens to even good mothers sometimes! 🙂
That soup sounds wonderful. And I love the Girl so calmly taking charge. She can come to our crises anytime!
your kids eat lentil soup? color me impressed! 😉
Two things:
My daughter’s class has a stone soup party every year. It is lots of fun and they put a few actual stones for a few lucky kids to get. I had never heard that story before my daughter was in this class.
Lentil soup? Your kids eat lentil soup? If it isn’t Top Ramen or Campbell’s Chicken Noodle my kids don’t eat it. Some day.
ahhh this post … THIS POST!
Fantastic.
Loved it.
You rock.
Something from nothing. One of our favourite books! I gave a copy to our little guy for his first birthday!
What an awesome story. Of course my kids would starve, because lentils? Never. I like your version better. Your girl sounds so special. Hope you found plenty that looks good at the grocery today. Me? I can’t seem to think of much tempting lately. I’m starting to almost look forward to casseroles, soups and pot roasts, much as I will miss summer.
I so like your girl.
This post was magical. When our cupboard is empty? We get food at a drive thru, not nearly so magical.
I love the way you talk about your Girl. She seems like such a peaceful soul. I look forward to days that I can teach my B to cook, I should start today!
Same thing happened to us when we returned from vacation, except I was able to go shopping the next day and the kids could get by on the left over granola bars and mac and cheese from the triip–not happily but they could.:)
Your daughter is very impressive in her culinary skills – just like her mom! I have this “empty cupboard” syndrome often, and there’s only two of us in the house! There are things around for us to eat, just not things that are appealing at the moment…
I love cooking with children who don’t have to be cajoled or coerced! You’ve trained your daughter well. And… You have lentil soup- that’s always a bonus!
I love cooking with children who don’t have to be cajoled or coerced! You’ve trained your daughter well. And… You have lentil soup- that’s always a bonus!
I can’t believe your daughter suggested you make soup! My kids would have looked horrified. My eldest would have said triumphantly “There’s nothing to it but that you’ll have to take us to McDonalds!” (and yes, he does speak in that weird convoluted way) Now I’m going to wonder all day what I would have done…
You could feed an army on your writing alone Beck.
And I hope the olders are praying, while at bible school for Baby to stop Shreiking.
Stone soup just happens to be a favorite thing around here. Even the dayhome kids love the idea of each bringing an item to add and getting a different soup everytime we make it.
i am beyond impressed that not only you made lentil soup, but that your child suggested it
what a lovely picture of home and bounty
As I was reading this post I thought, we make Stone Soup all the time … and then you used the allusion. Bravo.