Thanks for the Bananas

Tonight I made Hunter's Chicken, steamed fresh broccoli and fruit salad.

As I was slicing bananas into the fruit salad, I had a memory of my mother.

As a young adult, I remember opening fruit cocktail and noticing it didn't have bananas in it. I wondered why they stopped putting bananas into the fruit cocktail. My mother and I were estranged from the time I was 16 until I was 21. It was not our choice, but the work of the woman pastor to whom my mom was religiously enslaved. My father had recently left my mother who was newly pregnant,with two little girls under the age of five. My mother was vulnerable, scared to be alone and got involved in a church that ended up being a cult more than anything. The pastor of this church managed to persuade my mother that my moving in with her would be best for all concerned.

I know the cherries were always my favorite, but the bananas must have been a close second. They soak up the juice of the other fruit and become soft, mushy, sweet pieces. The perfect contrast to the other more solid fruits, like the pears and the peaches.

One day, after my mother and I had reunited, I expressed my disappointment in fruit cocktail, and the missing bananas. My mom explained that fruit cocktail has never had bananas, that that had always been her special touch.

Thanks, Mom, for the bananas.

Until next time.