Home coming

When people meet my family for the first time, it clears up a lot of things about me. My sister Natalie's boyfriend said he's never been around people who talk so much about food. My latest trip home was no exception.
"So sad that Bonaventura's closed down. Hey, Amy, our block is the happening place. We have a candy store, a bar and coffee shop, and a new Italian deli. It's hard to find parking, but we're hip." And thus saying, my dad drove my mom, Thor, and me into the heart of downtown Salem and towards their condo, or what I like to call the vacation home.
The next morning, my sister Sarah texted me to get my dad to Starbucks and a waiting coffee. I didn't realize I didn't have enough yeast for fish bread, my commitment for Tobey Family Christmas. So my dad volunteered to retrieve it. My dad's not a baker and didn't realize that it takes two and a half hours to make bread. This resulted in a call to my uncle in Detroit to see if there was room in his oven for fish bread to which he said of course there was. Turkey would be out by 12:30. This is my normal.
When my dad returned, I rescued him from present wrapping after making bread dough, and then we went to the Italian deli to get a few things for the fish bread. A dear friend, Caro, who used to run Alcyone's is now running the deli. She's known me since Taste and See Salem. I took one of my classes on a field trip there. The deli is beautiful, complete with a wood fire pizza oven, but it's still in process. Seeing Carol was good for my soul. And I found the most beautiful anchovies, sun dried tomatoes, roasted garlic, and parmesan for the fish bread.
We ate too much. My uncle sang to us while strumming a guitar. (He plays as well as a two year old.) Everyone got their present, and I think I was hugged more times than I have been in forever.
After the chaos ended, my sister Sarah and I went to Archive for coffee, not realizing they don't serve it after six. We ended up at The Governor's Cup, a place I grew up in made dearer by Alyssa, the young woman who bought it from the old owner and has breathed new life into it. Every time I go to Salem, I go to Gov's Cup. It feels like returning home even while knowing that I can't ever recapture the life I once had there.
So the city I love has changed. It's moved on, developed and matured without me. Yet it still has a lot of growing up to do. Maybe I see it in Salem because it's true of me too. I still have a lot of growing up to do.
I realized this weekend how seriously I take food, how very disappointed I am with food that doesn't meet a certain quality standard. And I decided maybe I should take myself seriously when it comes to food and quit pretending that I don't have a future in this. Maybe it's time to find my niche and start carving out a life for myself. I am just not sure where or how yet. But being aware that the season is changing is part of starting.
My family has made me what I am, but I love it. Coming home reminds me that there's goodness in food, that some of the best conversation happens over coffee or dinner or a kitchen full of relatives, and that good food, the kind that gives you a come to Jesus moment, is a gift. I want to give this gift to others because it means so much to me.
Taste and See that the Lord is good. There is no lack in Him.