More memories

 Yeah, you can tell I’m not feeling well …

I was in the supermarket awhile back and spotted some Pyrex dishes that I had to have. They were identical to dishes my mother once had.

My mother would serve desserts in these dishes.  I already had dessert dishes but couldn’t resist buying these.

And the first time I used then I made vanilla pudding,

Why is that significant?

1999, I had such a bad case of pneumonia that my doctor sent me to the hospital.  I was there for several days.  My roommate was a woman in her 80’s.  She had broken her hip and needed surgery, but the doctors couldn’t operate on her right away because she was taking blood thinners.  The doctors had to wait until the drugs were out of her system.

So she was scheduled for surgery one day, but the surgery was canceled because her drug levels were still too high.  But no one had ordered food for her, because she was supposed to have surgery.  The nurse brought her a turkey sandwich.  But she looked enviously at my dinner tray, which contained (among other things) a vanilla pudding cup. 

Now, at the time I wasn’t a big fan of vanilla pudding. I mean, I liked vanilla pudding, but  I preferred chocolate,  I have fond memories of my mother cooking M-T-Fine chocolate pudding on the stove.  It formed a “skin” as it cooled. She would top it with a squirt of Reddi Whip.

So when the old lady said she would have loved some vanilla pudding, I gave her mine. 

But as soon as I was released from the hospital I had to run out and buy vanilla pudding,

And ever since, vanilla pudding has been one of my comfort foods.

Jello Instant Pudding.  My comfort food.