THE FOOD IS NOT REALLY NICE DADDY
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. (Isaiah 41:10)
On January 15th of 2010 a family of 3 arrived back in Swindon, England. This was a new structure of family which no longer had a mother as we had just come back from the burial of Mandy in Africa. Tired from a journey of over 14 hours that involved an hour’s flight, and another 10 hours flight plus the typical long international flight check in times, we had reached a cold home that was also full of chaos. It was chaotic in that it was untidy. We had been gone from it over a month before when we left for the funeral in Botswana, Mandy’s country of birth.
I turned the heating on and with the kids took the car to the supermarket to get some food supplies. Upon our return I prepared some food for us to eat. The food preparation was such a lengthy and arduous chore for me because I had been out of action from the kitchen now for nearly a decade. Mandy had disallowed my involvement in cooking just after we got married. So now my cooking skills were nearly non-existent. Compounding the difficulty was the reality that we were now just three in the house and not four as before. That thought hurt, really bad, and I wept over it covertly as I wanted to be positive for the little ones.
After endless hours of my cooking it was now time to eat. So we sat down at the kitchen table and said grace before having our meal which consisted of plant based ingredients that have now escaped my memory. What does not escape from my memory though is how slowly the kids were eating. Asking the question, “Don’t you like the food?” Had two different answers from the two year old daughter than from my five year old son. My son tried to be diplomatic and said it was nice but not like mummy’s food. My daughter on the other hand said it straight, “It’s not really nice daddy!”
The pain I felt was multifaceted. It was about the missing wife who had cooked delicious meals, her absence hurt but her cooking was also missed. And my failure to make tasty food for her children was devastating.
REFLECTION:
I think the meal switched over to bread in the end before tidying up and preparations for bedtime. I had to look up recipes and relearn how to cook. And that night, while the little ones slept, I occupied myself with culinary education which soon paid off and made me a good cook again till this day.
BLESSING:
May the Lord make His face shine upon you and give you peace and healing today