Treading Lightly
There are times in life when you can feel a huge shift forward. Pretty naturally, those moments coincide with life=changing moments — the moment you realized that yes, indeed, you had to leave your nice parents and go to school, first kiss and all that that awakens, the first time you travel alone, marriage, the birth of your child. And then, for a bit (a long bit) your changes seem to correspond with those of your children. You tend them and watch them walk around the corner of a building, behind a tree and peak to see that you are there. And you are. So they go a little further. Always coming home though. And then suddenly, you aren’t a young 30-year old with a back that aches from holding your boy. He used to say “hold you” and lift his arms to be picked up. The past few weeks, I have felt more different and changed then I can remember in a long time. Even knowing that Christopher (the younger) is with us for another four years is deceiving because he is about to begin that tumultuous sprint to 18. And what I’m feeling to be honest, is the passing of time. I see it in my boys. I see it in my face. I work hard to be graceful about it all. But sometimes I just want to go all Matrix and sloooooow everything down. Or reverse. There are some parts I might like a do-over on. Hmm. I think they call that karma/reincarnation, etc. I’m working really hard not to come back as an animal.
When people ask me when Arthur is leaving for school or how I am coping I just tear up. I guess I had better get used to it. I don’t think this is going to be easy for me. I actually had the thought yesterday that I might be too attached to him. As if. I’ve been treading lightly with him since he started driving — letting him go around corners and take his sweet time coming home. But it doesn’t take away the fact that I think he’s tremendous company and I will miss his presence. A lot.
But hey, this blog is about food (ostensibly) so here’s what I made today to bring to his graduation party: hummus with toasted pita chips and roasted, marinated vegetables. I won’t post the hummus because there are so many variations and I basically took the Kripalu cookbook version and then added something here and something there until it was right and made no notes because I was due at the Bay Lodge where we had the party in 30 minutes to help set up.
But the marinated, roasted vegetables I did pay attention to and not only were they good but I would make extra to use as fillings for subs (with mozzarella melted over), or stirred into rotini for a good pasta salad. They would also be good heated up and stirred into either couscous or quinoa. So, very versatile. I didn’t add tofu to this recipe but I bet it would be good and then you would have your protein as well. Bon appetit and sorry for the weepiness. Get used to it… at least for a bit.