Gratitudabanana

What an odd gift! A case of nasty old, browning bananas! The nerve of some people thinking I would want their rotting fruit! Hee hee hee...boy did I!

Every now and again our local food co-op will ask if I want their browning bananas. I always take them to make sure they don't just go in the trash. At the very least, I'll compost them with a local chicken raiser who feeds my cafè scraps to her chicks, then composts the rest into her garden. But before I have to give in to that extreme I typically will make a slew of banana desserts.

I always crank out the Banana Bread Plus that flies off the shelf. This time I also made a great banana cream pie - oh man was that good! And I made a new recipe that I called the Hungry Monk - a riff on some internet recipe. This fat bald boy is a base of dulce de leche, topped with bananas, topped with butterscotch pudding and finally butterscotch whipped cream. Oh yeah baby! Pies like that will make any monk rip off his brown sack cloth and run naked through the nunnery!

But I don't want to leave you with that sanctimonious image. Rather, this case of bananas was a wrap up of a month of folks who have fed me, cared for our pooches, watched our house, and generally made sure I was surviving...oh, and gave us a Dodge Truck.

In the immortal words of the Pet Shop Boys, "What have I, What have I, What have I done to deserve this?" Our friends have families, have their own jobs, household duties, pets, mortgages, crying babies, yet they're willing to reach out and give even more of themselves. Even the simple act of sharing a crock pot recipe is an act of love and caring - it takes time, time which is all too precious to all of us.

One of the friends who is always the first to step up and help lost one of their babies a week ago. Tyrone (Roni to me and much of the world) was Mr. Pug surrounded be a bunch of female pugs - if you haven't been around large groups of pugs, you're missing one life's greater pleasures. Roni and I spent many hours at our old store location while he guarded the premises and I unloaded boxes of food. Never a complaint, just an occasional howl/wine/bark sound. Yet, Roni's moms found time to bring me a great dinner as they were preparing to head across the border for a short vacation.

They, of course, weren't the only ones. My blogfamous down-the-street-up-the-street neighbors kept me plump on fresh tortillas. Store customer/friends brought me soups and salads. Note that no one brought me dessert...cowards! :)

Tyler and I once read (or maybe it was an Oprah episode) some book that suggested keeping a gratitude journal. I filed that idea away in the same file where I put New Year's resolutions - I am simply not committed to long-term projects like that. I prefer a more immediate and heartfelt action. And so to channel that great thespian Haley Joel Osment, I'll pay it forward. My mom installed the value of a good thank you card (an art clearly lost in today's society), but I'll share the gifts to others around me. Thanks to all!