Family Day

Photo credit: Erik Anestad / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

It feels like Sunday. Italian music on the stereo in the kitchen, pork roast in the oven, M stirring something delicious on the stove, two wine glasses ready to be filled with the red. And, permeating the space between all these homely things--nostalgia. This setup--minus the wine--reminds me of teenage Sundays in mom's kitchen, and later of grown-ups Sundays with friends, when I was the person by the stove, trying some of the delicious recipes stolen from people who loved good food. Simpler times, when all I needed to do is pick up the phone and home would be filled with jokes and laughter of close friends.

How I wish to introduce M to those times! But, no one has yet discovered how to turn back time, and all I have to offer are words soaked with memories. Even if we moved to the place where such dinners--and such friends--were possible, would it really be that way again? Or, did the winds of time blow away the lifestyle of the past?

In my heart and soul I long for Sundays, but in reality do they even exist enymore? I carry the curse of an immigrant: to me, the picture is frozen forever on the Sunday's scene, while in reality the world has moved on, and life with it; friends became strangers with their own busy lives and no time for dinners. Except, perhaps, with an advance notice and appointment. Maybe, in reality, I will never be able to re-create those Sundays for M, to introduce her to life I once had. But that doesn't mean I should stop trying.

Because, who knows, maybe someday somewhere we'll come across a few people who cherish the same things, the simpler life, and with a little luck, we'll call each others "friends."

Here's to friends and holidays that feel like Sundays of my youth!

M's fabulous pork roast -- Photo: @margoboz