This is a primal desire and imperative.

And everyone was at Costco yesterday in preparation of it.

My daughter is coming home from University today for Easter and of all the ways to love her and show her I miss her- feeding her really well is right up there.

It makes me think about our relationship with food and ourselves. It makes me think about how we celebrate the fact that  they eat well when they are born and then aren’t fussy as toddlers and have huge appetites as kids.

One of my daughters used to hum loudly as she made her way through a breakfast of champions. Every day the other moms in the playground would ask what did she have this morning and I would list the buffet items and they were astounded. Jealous even. Over there they were having a fist full of  dry Captain Crunch at best.

The other one shook uncontrollably for her bottle. People came from far and wide to witness this. Seriously.

As they grow, long and lean is revered. Tiny, feminine,  polite appetites are celebrated. Cakes and cookies are denied. Scales are placed in bathrooms. Little jeans with single digit sizing are squeezed into.

Childhood and healthy, wonderful  eating drops off their plates.

This is terrible. A catastrophe.

Of all our needs and desires- to feed ourselves well and our babies is at the top of our list.

At 8 my oldest stood up in class and said with emotion  and in French which made it even more quaint and powerful at once “half of the world’s population is dying from starvation and the other half from over eating”  The teacher called me at home. She was alarmed. I told her there was a world map on our dining room wall and we were discussing this the night before and not to worry (!) Knowledge is power, remember?

Years later, we find ourselves surrounded by a population of girls and women who are starving but in the part of the world where plates are full.

This makes me very worried. Breaks my heart. Leaves me feeling powerless.

This is part of why I like to celebrate imperfection. And appetite. And food. Come see our imperfection. Yes it is true that imperfection comes very, very naturally to me. It’s not like I have had to work at it.