'Amid the stress and isolation of the last year, I found solace in memories of my RV days.'
I stood at the kitchen sink scraping peanut butter off a spoon with my teeth. The idea of cooking an actual meal was enough to make my limbs go leaden. So my family survived on what we scooped out of jars or unearthed from the freezer’s icy crust.
Because finding Nanny a safe nursing facility mid-pandemic was impossible, she’d moved in with us—indefinitely. We all adjusted to new routines. Work Zoom meetings were followed by denture scrubbing. Then we disinfected surfaces, answered emails, and puttered around the neighborhood with Nanny in her wheelchair. And when we climbed to the tops of particularly loathsome hills, we whooped at each other like excited geese.
We didn’t cook much in the RV, either, but for practical reasons. Our oven was child-size, akin to the Easy Bake variety, with a temperamental pilot light. For Preston’s 25th birthday, I made a rum cake. It took three hours to bake and came out of the Bundt pan in gelatinous, boozy chunks. We ate with our hands, giggling through each bite. But privately, I noticed an anxious hum in my brain.
So at dusk Preston and I walked a short dirt path to Eddie’s trailer. Outside, a few park residents lounged on tailgates—unhinged and scratched to hell from hauling kayaks. Richard, a tattoo artist in his 40s, manned the grill. He smoked everything over split mesquite. Until that moment I didn’t realize wood had a fragrance, a flavor.
When the chicken was ready, we pulled each piece apart with our hands, the red pepper and oregano and garlic melting in our mouths, brightening our palates. We ate the hot dogs without buns, along with fiery chiles pequin from Richard’s garden. Our mouths flamed green then orange then red. We licked the grease from our fingers and the paper plates, too. We ate until we finished every last bit of meat, because it would’ve been a sin to leave a pork chop cold and lonely on the racks.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
The Palace Of Versailles Just Opened Its First Luxury HotelAnd it’s everything your Francophile dreams are made of — for $2,000 a night.
Read more »
Firing of Boston Police Commissioner Is a Reminder That Cops Still Don't Care About Domestic Violence“I will not turn a blind eye to domestic violence against Black women, or any woman, for that matter,” acting Mayor Kim Janey said
Read more »
Summer Dreams and Sequins from Bottega VenetaPlus more seasonal collection looks from Chanel, Givenchy, and more!
Read more »
Chloé Resort Is a Conscious Traveler's DreamPlus more from the Cruise collections.
Read more »
Lisa Maffia opens her own beauty salon despite Covid nearly wrecking her dreamFormer So Solid Crew star Lisa Maffia's beauty salon in Margate, Kent, is now up and running after a tough year that forced many businesses to close down
Read more »
Inside Gymnast Suni Lee’s Journey to Olympic GoldIn March 2020, sunisalee_ was scrolling through Twitter after practice when she saw the news: The Olympics were postponed, for the first time in modern history. “To have that taken away from us without having any control is very hard,” she says.
Read more »