While I have no desire to join the club, mothers never cease to amaze me… the subculture breeds a certain kind of creativity and resourcefulness that the rest of us have no need to develop. In a recent hotel experience I was reminded of this magical skill by a mother of two at our
“…Continental Breakfast included 6:30 am – 10:00 am.”
Hubby and I had just spent a restful night in a king sized bed at the HoJo near JFK airport. We rose with the sun and stumbled downstairs to eat our fill and be fortified for our flight home. We had books in hand and a plan for later in the day, poured our coffees and began to raid the trays and cabinets.
It was all pretty haphazard on our end. We cracked a couple hard boiled eggs, sweetened paper cups of decaf coffee, then ate this first course before going back for round two. We toasted buttered and split a bagel while sipping dregs of the first 8 ounces of coffee. On trip three to the counter we picked up two muffins, two teas, and paid little attention to the family of four who had just joined us… I was busy also grabbing a couple pieces of fruit to eat in the TSA line—like I said, we had plans for later.
While the dad futzed with his coffee drink, making it just so—perfecting it with the appropriate mix of caf and decaf, sugars and milky creamers—mom was at work… keeping her rugrats relatively quiet as she toasted a half dozen pieces of the French toast, sliced banana, and warmed a few of the boiled eggs in cups of hot water before peeling and slicing them with a plastic knife. While the meal was being created she made herself a cup of tea and two hot chocolates for the children. These she deposited as she worked.
Hubby and I leafed through our beach books, as the dad made himself a bowl of cereal and sat down. However, mom was still on her feet, talking to the kids, heating the banana slices in syrup in the microwave, and plating up. After about a minute she returned to the table with two homemade looking breakfasts for her offspring. It was the most incredible thing I’d ever seen.
I stole a few awed glances at the result of her work, and marveled—debating whether to ask if I could snap a picture. In the end, I didn’t. Instead whispered to hubby across the table, ‘Moms are amazing.’
Never in a million years would we selflessly primp and prime a stack of anything, continental or otherwise, to create something both beautiful and edible. We’re more utilitarian than that, hubby and I shoveled in what was there and largely ignored the aesthetics of the experience. Yet here was this woman taking the time to give her children the experience of a home cooked meal while they were far from home.
(image sources: Wyndham Suites, Food Floozie, Recipe Perfection, DrawingImage)
