8.5.10 My Momma's Victory Beans

This blog started with beans...and a momentous occasion occurred in these last few weeks...My momma made her Eaton Family famous beans.  Beans wouldn't seem like such a big deal...simple, humble beans.  But, in our family they are history and presently, they are a victory, a triumph.  My momma...who filled my young belly with extraordinary delights and taught me the value of a well cooked meal and the joy that can be experienced in it's creation, hasn't been able to cook for many years. At times due to business...and most recently due to disability and poor health.  But the Eaton Family has experienced a victory! In the form of a little dry bean, which was transformed into a succulent, tender, savory, protein and carb infused wonder.  A nourishment available to the poorest and also enjoyed by the most wealthy (if they are smart!)

Last week Momma called to say she had made a pot of beans...which in my family means COMFORT FOOD....warm flour tortillas are all the accompaniment required...and I was sent home with a container of cold beans...which over several meals between Scott & I were devoured...each time with surprising enjoyment. How can a dry pinto bean, salt, water and a few TBS of bacon fat turn into this delight?  But it has been so all my life...and once again tonight, as I sat at my computer at work...late into the evening...a call came from my mother that a pot of beans would be cooking, and fresh tortillas ready if I were so inclined to drop by to pick some up for dinner....and I did.   These weren't even perfect..she warned they were a little over cooked (a few were charred from not being stirred often enuf...and under salted)...but all that remedied with a little hot sauce and cheese...and what ever other failings they suffered were covered over by the love with which they were made.  For I knew the pain and trouble that had to be endured to make even a simple pot of beans...and I ate every one.  I truly never thought I would eat another meal cooked by my mom...my favorite cook of all...I didn't think she'd be able to...and so tonight I ate like royalty...the meal that was fought so hard for.  And I will finish every last bean in the bowl...as tears of gratitude roll down my cheeks.
Even a bowl of beans can be significant..as I am reminded by a friend lately...Jesus did feet...nothing is too small to be meaningful.  My Momma made beans for dinner...the power of that statement is a miracle when you understand the circumstance...and for a bonus I got Eskimo kisses and giggles from the Eaton Family prince, 17 mo old Logan....this is the best of life.