Posts tagged ‘wisdom’

Life Lessons on Prayer and Tuna Salad

It was largely at Nanner’s table as a child that I learned what is of worth to me now as an adult.  Nanner was my maternal grandmother, also my mentor, my guardian angel and my dearest childhood friend.  The lessons I learned were of love and life, forgiveness and repentance, hope and faith.  They were there for the taking among the frosty glasses of sweet tea, the creamy macaroni and cheese, the platters of crisp fried chicken and biscuits.   Sometimes I watched them played out before me like other children watched cartoons or Lassie.  Sometimes they just came forth in conversation between participants at the table.  And sometimes they were casually passed like the radishes and black-eyed peas and sweet cold slices of cantaloupe.  These were the life lessons that seemed to be doled out like an allowance might have been, but when seen, all in total, as an adult I recognize now they are a great inheritance.  I can’t help feeling it a privilege and an obligation to share them now with other people who were not as fortunate as I to have such a grandmother.  She was fond of reminding me “to whom much is given, much is required.”   So this recounting of her recipes for living (otherwise known as wisdom) and recipes for good food from my family’s table is my attempt at giving back from that with which I am so richly blessed.
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