Lifestyle

“Jesus meant that if you believe in Him, you will not be hungry spiritually!” says Megan, age 11.

It was an unseasonably cool day in April of 2022, as I recall. I was sitting, alone, in my husband’s truck, in front of a mobile home, inside of a trailer park, in a distant city. It reminded me, even then, of that children’s song about the hole in the log on the floor at the bottom of the sea. I hummed nervously and these words ran through my mind. “There’s a woman in a truck at a trailer in a trailer park in a city nowhere near the bottom of the sea.” Brilliant lyricist I am not. I could no longer see my husband. He had stepped inside of the home with a man I did not know. There had been a confusing attempt at conversation using various forms of broken English (the man), shattered Spanish (my husband), and a translation phone app. It was taking forever, this errand. Plus, the dog factors into this. Granted, I had not seen the dog. But, I’d heard it barking, barking, barking. I bet you’re wondering what sort of underworld crime, podcast worthy danger we’d gotten ourselves into. Same. We were worried, too. But, no crimes were involved. Well, that’s not entirely true. Still, we were just two people who hate spending money trying to buy a used car. But first, we must go back to where this all began. I call it the ultimate saga of coincidences.

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The United States flag was first imagined after the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The Continental Congress authorized creation of the first national flag on June 14, 1777. It was decided that the flag should have 13 stripes, alternating red and white, to represent the original 13 colonies, and that the new union be represented by 13 white stars in a blue field to signify a “new constellation.” Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, is most often credited with the original design.

My mom spent her last year living in a tiny house in my back yard. That’s a lie, but it’s easier than saying she lived with me for almost a year, until I felt I could no longer keep her safe, then in a nursing home until she became very ill and passed away. Those are really the only details I have. Hospice via Medicare is a wonderful program, but I’m not sure if most people understand the particulars. Hospice is for making people comfortable, not for curing them. My mom’s nurse thought maybe she had suffered a stroke. All the signs seemed to agree though Medicare elected not to test her. What would the reason be in knowing the problem with no intent to solve? The point in all of this is more about the aftermath of losing a parent. I am still going through boxes and finding my mother’s treasures. Each time I think I’ve boxed everything up, there’s always something else to find. This past week was a doozy.

“God is pleased with works that bring other people to Him,” says Maggie, 11.

B Dear Aunt B, I have a family of four. We eat out at fast food or restaurants almost all the time. When we aren’t eating out, we eat processed food and anything out of a box. I hear that isn’t good for you either. I’m not a cook. Any ideas? This is breaking our bank. I Will Have Fries With That Dear I Will Have Fries With That, You will be able to save so much food with just a little bit of work that you won’t believe it. Of course you can still spend tons of money and spend a lot of time in the kitchen. The key is planning and some good, basic recipes.

“When I am scared or don’t know what to do. I ask Jesus to give me power to not be afraid,” says Kaleb, 7.

I am the memory keeper. It is the cross I bear. I never set out to be the person who rarely forgets things. In fact, so many times, I am barraged by the things I wish I could forget: the dark things, the heavy things, the things ridden with the sins of the unfortunate. Yet, there they are and here am I. Early on, I realized things made better sense to me in picture format. Words are difficult to process, but if I can create a mental painting of your words, they tend to make more sense. They also tuck themselves into the crevices of my brain like a computer with an everincreasing prepaid Google photo membership. I don’t remember everything, either. Try me. If it happened in the last 15 years, game over. I won’t have the faintest idea. But if you wanted to know the color of the Easter outfit I wore when I was two, it was blue and it was actually pants. There were ducks on the waistband. The Peter Pan collar was white. On my first date with my husband, I wore Tommy Hilfiger low rise flare jeans with a white scoop neck T-shirt from a store called The Rave. I had The Rachel haircut parted on my left side. We both ordered Tecate and were told they didn’t carry that brand. He tripped over my large mom purse that had slid off the back of the restaurant chair, almost hitting his head on the corner of the table. I can see it like a scene in a movie. And, I remember the day in 1984 when my best friend Mary Kay told me the name of her favorite song.

The number of people in the world affected by hunger continues to rise despite a global commitment to end hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition by 2030, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Ensuring access to safe and sufficient food for all people or eradicating malnutrition has proven a substantial, if preventable, challenge. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) indicates that, in 2020, between 720 and 811 million people faced hunger. Due to the global pandemic, the prevalence of undernourishment rose in 2020 to 9.9 percent from 8.4 percent the year prior. Worldwide, the Central African Republic, Yemen, Afghanistan, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), are among the countries with the highest three-year averages of undernourishment. Even though the United States and Canada have lower rates of undernourishment when compared on a global scale, food insecurity is still a concern domestically. According to Save the Children, 17 percent of all U.S. children are living in food-insecure households that cannot provide nutrition at some points during the year. Plus, a Household Food Insecurity in Canada study conducted by researchers at the University of Toronto found 15.9 percent of households across all provinces experienced food insecurity in 2021.

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A reporter once asked Johnny Cash for his definition of paradise. Johnny’s reply was beautiful. “This morning, with her, having coffee.” He was speaking, of course, about paradise being that moment with his wife, June Carter Cash. Most Friday mornings are paradise to me. My husband tries to either work from home on Fridays or at least allow a more relaxed start to the day, which is how we found ourselves sitting in our bedroom this morning, having coffee, and watching Touched by an Angel. If you’re a repeat column customer, you know I can be a bit stingy with the funds. We cut the cable cord many years ago. Honestly, we rarely watch television at all. When we do, we use our handy dandy digital antennae to pluck Start TV out of the mysterious airwaves. Turns out, the mister loves old 90s TV shows as much as I do. Touched by an Angel was a tearjerker today. It got us both emotionally sideways with the introspection of free will and love for your enemies. The sun was shining outside the window. The birds were chirping. I asked him an odd question. “Isn’t it funny how life is so stinking busy when you’re young? You know the birds are chirping, but you don’t have the time or the patience to care. Then, one day you wake up and say, ‘Wow, isn’t that a cedar waxwing and aren’t they already supposed to be in South America by now?’” How does this happen?

“A boy gave Jesus five bread and two fish. I’ll give him 50 muffins a day,” says Caden, 5.