My Cooking Buddy

I love to cook for my family; to me cooking is just another way to show my family how much I love them.  I could be cooking something for breakfast, lunch, dinner or even popcorn.  I think of the people I am preparing the food for and I put all my love and care into the meal.  I hope as I prepare the meals, my energy of love reflexes the quality of the food I prepare for them.  I am a big fan of Rachel Ray, PBS cooking shows and some of the Food Network cooking shows because it would teach me new dishes I can make for my family or improve old ones.  Since my mom, sister and dad are not too crazy about trying new foods, I try to introduce them little by little with each meal.

The biggest fan of my cooking would be my 34-year-old sister Mary Magdalene.   She always like to see what I did in the kitchen and how I would prepare the meals. My sister would just watch me cook while sitting in a chair at the dinning room table that was ad- jointed to the kitchen,. One late afternoon as I was getting ready to cook dinner, I would  be running around the kitchen mumbling to myself,
     "Okay, It's gonna be meatloaf, mashies, gravy, some veggies and biscuits."
You can hear the sounds of chopping, slicing, dicing, saluting, mixing and clanging the pots or pans I would use for dinner.   As I started feeling the beads of perspiration slowly run from my forehead into my eyes and feeling  the familiar stinging,  Mary Magdalene would just be sitting quietly and watch.

Once I actually noticed my sister was observing me and I asked her
    ” What are you dong?”  She smiled and said,
     ” Watching.” 
      "Watching who?" I asked,
      "You," she answered,
I stopped and said,
     “Aren’t you bored just looking at me cooking?  Wouldn’t you want to see something on T.V.?”
     “ No, I like to see what you are doing, I like to watch you cook,”
     “Really?” I responded
  With a smile on her face she answered,
     “Yes, really."

Mary Magdalene's  favorite dish I would make was pasta and garlic bread.   She LOVED pasta and garlic bread and I loved making it because I knew how much she enjoyed it.   
That was four years ago, when Mary Magdalene was strong enough to walk on her own, she was able to sit up on a chair with no assistance and enjoy a meal with the family when we all at together as a family.  Now, while I cook a meal for my family, the chair where my sister sat is empty.  Now, my sister couldn’t eat anything I’d make because the MS has gotten to a point where she can’t chew, swallow or process food in her stomach.   All of Mary's nutrition was being fed with a feeding tube and was no longer able to not only watch me cook but was not longer able to eat what I prepared.
I now prepare of my sister fresh watermelon juice and feed it to her with a small sponge.  She really loved the watermelon juice so much that it was hard for her to let go of the sponge when it was in her mouth.   I wondered if it was the MS that didn't allow her to release it or was it because this was the only way she would recall what it was to taste something she really enjoyed.  Regardless of the reason, I prepared the juice with as much love as cooking an entire meal. 

Even though my sister is still with us, I sure miss having her company while I cook.  I look over my shoulder while I am cooking to see if she is sitting in the chair hoping to see her but the chair is empty.

I know all the cooking shows have millions of fans because I am one of them.  However, the one fan I have will always have is my sister Mary Magdalene.