Meals-on-Wheels

I am blessed in so many ways. One blessing that needs to be shared concerns our neighbors and friends.

When I broke my tibia and fibula a couple of years ago, I was housebound for three months. For someone that had been fairly active and was always out visiting people, this was like prison to me … and also not very pleasant for my wonderful wife.

During my healing process, one of our neighbors came up with the idea that once a week a different neighbor should prepare a dinner for us. What made it special was that they not only made us dinner, they would eat with us. This was a wonderful idea that allowed me to interact with neighbors and friends as we enjoyed breaking bread together. It also allowed me catch up on all the latest news. I called the program “meals-on-wheels’ because whoever was cooking that week would drive up around 6:00 or so in the evening and unload their car. It was quite the event and even though I was happy to finally have the cast removed, I miss the weekly dinners. We still occasionally have someone over, or go out, for dinner, but it is not quite the same as the weekly dinner at our house.

Even though the weekly dinners have ended, I still have a few neighbors that know how much I like to eat. Susie, for example, often calls and asks if I would be interested in dinner. Her meals are wonderful … often better than many restaurants’ meals. She will prepare things like Thousand Dollar Chicken and Cornish Game Hen with all the trimmings. She also knows what my favorites are. Her meatloaf is wonderful, her taco soup and Brunswick stew are great, and she grills a mean burger. Besides the main course, she also prepares a great salad and a very tasty dessert. My favorite is her cheesecake. I have eaten cheesecake in many restaurants, but none have ever been better than hers. I am drooling just thinking about it. And, what makes it that much more special is that ‘she delivers’.

I can also count on a couple of other neighbors for home baked desserts and the occasional leftovers (did I mention I love leftovers). It seems that everyone knows that I am deprived and wants to help me out.