Bread and the food of life

Art Journal Pages - "Charmed Life"

It's the simple things in life that can either bring the most joy or be our biggest challenge. Take food for example, we need it to live but too much of it and then it becomes a health issue. I have struggled all my life with my weight. I certainly know what healthy eating looks like, but for me food is more than energy, it can soothe my weary soul.

Reading can do that for me as well. When my brain is overflowing with thoughts, picking up a book can help me to escape the vortex that is building up inside. Sourdough or, Lois and Her Adventures in the Underground Market by Robin Sloan turned out to be a book that nourished my soul on a day that I needed comfort.

Lois a young programmer for a robotics company lives a very sheltered life in the bustling city of San Francisco. She follows the lead of several of her co-workers who are meeting their nutritional needs by drinking a product they refer to as Slurry. Lois begins to consume (because eating would be the wrong word here) it three times a day. On her doorstep she finds a flyer for a little takeout place offering spicy soup and bread. She orders. She gets hooked. But when the work visas for the operators of the business expire they must leave the country but not without giving her a parting gift - a crock of sourdough starter. Now her adventures really begin.

I've found myself reading a lot of stories in this same vein - character is living an unsatisfying life, event happens to upend the status quo, change happens leading to the discovery of a new way of living. I guess it is a sign that my life is not going the way I want it to. I read Sloan's book in the course of a day off from work. I needed to leave my life behind while I went with my mother into Boston for a visit with her oncologist. A day of tests and lots of waiting. A day filled with the unspoken worry "has the cancer come back?" The answer - no. Thank God.

Getting a medical diagnosis is one of those events that turns your world upside down. The worrying can consume you and you need to find a way to deal with it, or at least avoid it for a little while. Reading for me helps at times like these. I want to thank the authors who have helped me during the difficult times of life - you made it possible for me to survive them.

Books - food for the soul

I am no where near finishing the current book I'm reading (G.M. Malliet's A Demon Summer), but I came across this quote that struck me to the core: Books are to the soul what food is to the body. Let the sister in charge of the scriptorium be alive to the rare sanctity of her duty. - The Rule of the Order of the Handmaids of St. Lucy (p. 120). Maillet has placed her character, Max Tudor former British spy turned vicar turned amateur sleuth, in a fictitious abbey run by the Order of the Handmaids of St. Lucy (also fictitious and not to be confused with the Liberal Catholic Order of St. Lucy). Max is making the rounds of the abbey meeting each of the sisters and learning about their role in the order. I haven't even read the chapter about the librarian from which the quote above heads, but the idea that books are food for the soul is such a powerful one I needed to stop and reflect on the thought.

Nourishing the soul can come in many forms I am learning. Just the other day while waiting with my mother for her most recent test results following her cancer treatments we went to the Boston MFA just blocks from the Dana Farber cancer center. There we immersed ourselves in the beauty of the American Impressionists. We spent a good hour and a half in just one particular gallery soaking up the color and emotions that the artists had expressed in their work. Scenes of nature - farmland, forest, seascapes, morning, noon, and sunset. Scenes of everyday life - dressing, caring for the home, children at play, the sharing of a cup of tea with a friend. Scenes of grandeur - city streets, the opera, the aristocracy dressed for coronation ceremonies. Each and every one food for the soul.

Yesterday afternoon working in the garden tending to the plants was another form of nourishment for my soul. I pruned plants whose blossoms are spent and foliage is withering. I transplanted day-lilies and irises to sunnier locations for next spring. I began the task of digging countless holes for spring blooming bulbs. The immediate results are an aching lower back, but the long term results will be the riotous colors I will enjoy from my favorite writing spot.

A good long walk can also be good for the soul. Time to contemplate life in rhythm to my steps and swinging arms. My breath finds a pattern to the motion. My eyes take in the beauty around me. I can either empty my mind of thoughts, or focus on them to find solutions. The endorphins do wonders for body and soul as well.

That brings me to books - the whole reason for this post. Over the course of my life books have been nourishment for my soul. I've lost myself in stories when I needed to escape from the challenges of my own. I've learned from textbooks and in return I teach others using them. I've gotten tips from self-help books on how to organize, exercise, meditate, or cook. I've found comfort and encouragement from books with spiritual or uplifting themes. Books have been there for me and will continue to be there for me to fill my soul. What a duty and gift it is to share books with others. It is one I take seriously.

Deceptive cover art

The Matchmaker

The Matchmaker by Elin Hilderbrand looked like an innocuous summer read. Just look at the cover - bare feet walking in the surf, blue sky, and a bicycle. Safe you would think, but no. Sorry but SPOILER ALERT: what starts like a fun romantic read takes a turn for the worst. The main character discovers she's dying of cancer. She's failed to see the signs that she is sick and by the time it's discovered it's terminal.

Now normally this might not have upset me, but when I started to read this book my mother was battling cancer. Hilderbrand describes the sorrow that a mother has at leaving behind a daughter, and a daughter preparing to lose her mother. It was a kick in the gut. By the time I reached the end I was in floods of tears. Hilderbrand wrote a wonderful story about living, loving and dying and well worth the read. Just have tissues near by.

As I prepared to write this post I did a little research on the author and discovered that she was diagnosed with cancer one month before the publication of this book. (Read
about the author's own battle with cancer) I imagine it must have been a shock when the news came after she had completed her own research in order to write her novel. There is no way to prepare for such a diagnosis, but the more people share about their experiences with this disease, the more hope and courage others can gain for their own battles. My mom's doing great and we were very lucky the tumor was discovered, quite by accident, as early as it was. Lesson learned - go for check ups and seek medical attention when something doesn't seem right, or a problem doesn't clear up.