Rarely in life does a mom get the opportunity to spend quality time with her adult children, especially those with bustling families of their own. But I am about to do just that!
Having raised four amazing children as a single mom, life moved so fast from one phase of their lives to the next, and before I knew it, they were driving… and then, they were driving off into the sunset of their own lives.
I told myself one very pertinent secret way back in those days: Be that parent your kids love to come back to. What I thought that meant to me twenty years ago, turned out to be in fact, a mysterious truth.
Mysterious? Because way back then, I did not have the wisdom I may have acquired now, so that message must have been whispered to me from the universe, and certainly not of my own knowledge.
The son I am about to head out across America on a plane with, rent a car and take six days to do a ten hour drive up the Pacific coast, are going to be some of the most valuable years I might ever spend with him.
He was born a pied piper: that tender hearted guy everyone needed to be near. He has a beautiful wife of whom I love as my very best friend, and they have two amazing sons: one with his daddy and mommy’s tender heart, and the other with a wild fire up his…… just like his grandma!
While many of you, who read my stories of food and lifestyle, have encouraged me to continue our connection – cook, chat and share – it is this particular son that I turn to for all my complex food questions.
He is not only one hell of a chef, but as an executive chef of a fine dining catering company that has served the nations capital for over 45 years, he orchestrates (during the busiest season), upwards of 3,000 artistically designed culinary plates in a single night; not under one roof, but in various different venues, traveling, at times, as many as two hours to their destination.
Every possible item, down to that last wedge of lime or perfectly plucked strawberry, becomes his responsibility to attend too, in the planning as well as, moments before the trucks head to their destination. How in the hell he sleeps at night, is beyond me. One dinner party takes me a week to prepare, and about that long to recover from.
When I asked him where he wanted to go and what he wanted to see or do on our excursion, his answer was simply, ‘nothing structured’.
I will do my best to keep you abreast of aspects of our Road Trip, but my son is not a social media fan, and so I will have to sneak photos. Shhhhhh. To be continued…
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.