Sunday, January 9, 2011

Caldo de Res



Just as we relied on our parents growing up in lending us a hand, today we still rely on our parents for guidance, wisdom and occasionally helping us to make our tummy aches go away. When did life get so complicated that just a bandaid and a kiss, would simply make the pain go away? I reflected on this question frequently throughtout the weekend pondering wether or not I could comfort my mother (after her recent surgery) just as she had done so well for me as a child.

To be truthful, I felt of little use to her throughout the duration of my stay there. Have you felt that you were more "in the way," than anything else? And yet, the one and only thing that my mom asked me to do for her this weekend, was to make her famous Caldo de Res. (Mexican beef and vegetable soup) I've made the soup only a hand full of times, each time, I believe it to be closer and closer to the exact taste that my mother makes it.

The soup wasn't perfect nor was the Mexican rice that accompanied it. However, my mother and sister seemed to enjoy it just as much, as if they had made it themselves. My mother still makes the soup for my siblings and I upon returning home in a matter of words "de vez en cuando." No matter how ill I feel or how homesick I am, the warmth and fullness I feel after a bowl of that heavenly soup, makes me feel as if my mother is saying "I love you, I love you, I love you," over and over again.

Needless to say, I hope that when she ate the soup she felt the repeated words of "I love you, I love you, I love you," over and over again, like the words I still embrace from time to time drinking that soup. -Gracias a la vida y gracias a todas las mamás.

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