Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Three Beautiful Things 10/10/17: The Committal, Lively Lunch at Radio Brewing, Improvised Soup

1. Christy, Everett, Carol, Paul, the Deke, and I met Debbie Mikesell this morning at Kellogg's Greenwood Cemetery to join together in prayer, a hymn, and Scripture as we committed Mom's ashes to Dad's grave, just as she requested.

We gathered in the soft light of October in the midst of golden trees.  The Episcopalian Book of Common Prayer provided us with beautiful passages and prayers, which I read, including a Prayer of Consecration and a Prayer of Committal. I read Matthew 11: 28-30 ("Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden. . . "). Carol led us in singing two verses and the chorus of the hymn "The Old Rugged Cross", one of Mom's favorites.  I read Psalm 148, a perfect hymn of praise. I am very grateful that back in August, Christy had recommended this Psalm for Mom's service and that we all agreed to carry it forward into our final farewell to Mom.

We closed with a prayer that the peace of God might take hold in our hearts and minds. I hope Christy, Carol, and I can be of quiet mind in the days and weeks to come, even as we continue to be faced with many tasks in the aftermath of Mom's death. It will be tempting to let our minds race, to feel overwhelmed by what is left to do, and to succumb to worry and apprehension. I pray the peace of God will prevail.

2. We lingered for a bit at the cemetery, talked a bit more about the Celebration of Life and said farewell to Debbie Mikesell and thanked her for all she's done to help us with everything related to Mom's cremation, Celebration of Life, and final committal.

Then we piled into our vehicles and wound our way to Radio Brewing for lunch together.

It turns out that a Radio Brewing employee named Sara used to live near Lyle and Lura in Orofino. Now Sara and her young daughter, Ava, live in the Silver Valley and Sha'lea, our server, brought Sara out from the kitchen so Christy could tell her that her friend Lura is our cousin and had just been in Kellogg for the weekend. It was a very fun "all roads lead to Kellogg" moment.

Over lunch, we all started talking a bit about the future -- when will we have family dinners? Shall we do them on selected Sundays? Who will be in Kellogg for Thanksgiving? How adventurous do we want to get with Thanksgiving dinner? Do we want to go to the Univ. of Idaho for a Vandal football game? When do we want to see the next two performances at the Sixth Street Melodrama?

It sounds like some fun times lie ahead.

3.  I surveyed the icebox late in the afternoon and I started to imagine a soup, maybe one that tastes similar to what might be served in a Chinese restaurant. I poured some sesame oil in the bottom of a pot, heated it up a little, and added chopped green onion and a few cloves of finely chopped garlic. I added chopped red pepper and a few chopped mushrooms and some chopped broccoli. Ah! We have a small chunk of red cabbage -- chop, chop, chop. After a brief saute, I poured a couple quarts of chicken broth over the vegetables along with a couple shakes of soy sauce. As the soup simmered, I beat two eggs in a bowl and folded them into the soup while fixing some jasmine rice. I poured the cooked rice into the soup pot, added a couple pinches of crushed red pepper and the Deke and I sat down at the kitchen table and enjoyed my pot of improvised soup. I'm happy to say that the soup I imagined before I began preparing it turned out to be the soup we ate.  Ah! Success!

I haven't been cooking much over the last month and it was deeply satisfying to spend some time chopping and cooking and, well, to create a tasty result.

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