Last night was my second class with the ladies. It was a struggle to rally because I was really tired from a very long Thanksgiving Day. I showed up at the house and everyone else was in the same mood. Mama was laying on the couch, in a Snuggie watching tv. She actually looked very comfortable in her Snuggie. I have scoffed at Snuggies in the passed but now I am rethinking my elite attitude and might one day jump on the Snuggie band wagon. Maybe.
Anyway, we all got in the kitchen finally and started cooking. I decided to teach them to make sucotash. Sucotash is so easy. It’s a seasonal dish celebrating the tastes of summer with a basic combination of squash, tomatoes and corn. I know it’s not summer but it’s a good way to enjoy veggies even if they are not at the pinnacle of summer freshness.
I showed them how to dice zucchini and off they went. I was focusing on heating up the skillet when everything got really loud in the kitchen. I turned around and Blondie and Mama were teasing each other…with knives. Actually they weren’t teasing with the knives. Mama was tickling Blondie with a knife in her hand. And then Mama announced sheepishly that she hadn’t taken her medication that day. The house mother shot bullets at her with her eyes and asked, “You didn’t? You didn’t take your medication?” I decided not to open this line of questioning up for discussion and loudly announced it was time to add the zucchini to our skillet.
It turned into quite a raucous evening. I’m assuming that was in part because Mama didn’t take her medication. She started chasing people around the house, sans knife, tickling them and starting play fights. The ladies were acting just like little girls. I thought, if this is what she’s like not on medication what’s the big deal. But I did not voice my opinion.
At one point during the chaos Tough Chick said “When I’m not on medication I don’t talk about people. I’m nicer.” And I asked, “when you’re not on medication do you think you’re more yourself?” Her response was interesting, “No, when I’m just myself I’m not nice. I’m just normal.”
Drugs have such a profound effect on our points of view of ourselves. I think it’s possible that we become very unaware of who we actually are when we are on drugs. We lose track of our baseline selves. And that loss can be very dangerous when we are trying to make moral decisions about what is good for us. I believe this is true for all drugs. Even the “good” ones. This is my personal opinion. I do believe these women are in need of mental stabilization and maybe at this point drugs are the fastest way to effect that stabilization.
Back to the chaos. We finished making the sucotash and I showed them how to make a yummy post-thanksgiving sandwich: the everything sandwich. Every family, including theirs, has their own take on this sandwich. I showed them mine and demanded they make it my way lol. I didn’t quite demand. I pleaded that they just try it. I got this idea from a restaurant I worked at for a few months over the summer called Tavern in Brentwood. It’s owned by Caroline Styne, an old friend of mine, and her partner, chef Suzanne Goin. This sandwich is really popular there and quite delicious. My version was simply: whole wheat bread, mayonnaise, turkey, stuffing (yes, on the sandwich) and cranberry sauce (yes, on the sandwich). It was very delish and everyone, for the most part enjoyed it.
So finally we all sat down and ate. Actually, they have this funny habit of everyone starting to eat at different times. They don’t wait for each other and all eat together. I’m going to have to change that. So we ate and we all went around the room and said what we were grateful for. I didn’t get to experience that at Thanksgiving and I think that’s really the only thing that saves this holiday from falling into a completely dysfunctional, sloth-fest of excess and unchecked, indulgent greed. But that’s just me.
It was really lovely to hear these women talk about what they were grateful for. Everyone, to a woman, was grateful for a brand new start in life. Mama was grateful for her sobriety and her kids. John Wayne was grateful for this home. Little Bird was grateful for these cooking classes and Blondie said she was grateful for food. Finally we got to Tough Chick. She said she was grateful for her children and for the peace and quiet she experiences in this home. No ghetto birds, no sirens, no yelling, no violence.
