Day 19: Love is a Jamaican Beef Patty

Every weekend I bake all kinds of things. I’m practicing. The plan is to open a café/restaurant within the next few years, and I’ve been assigned the task of baker, so I spend my days off cutting butter into flour and measuring yeast. It’s the best. But at the end of the weekend, we always have baskets of baked goods waiting to be consumed. I’m embarrassed to admit that the mistakes usually end up in the dumpster, but most of my pastries are given away. We bring bread to the neighbors and the rest goes to work where we pawn it off on co-workers. It’s true that we give away food because we know that we’ll end up eating it all if we don’t. But there’s more. When I give a loaf of bread to someone from work who I barely know, I am giving them flour and yeast and over 3 hours of my weekend. Without saying a word, I am telling them that they are worth something. The hardest of all hearts soften up (without a milk-wash) when presented with a paper bag of chocolate croissants. And you should see the things we get in return. We’ve been given fresh Canadian Walleye, even fresher Frog legs, and last night Kevin gave us 6 enormous Jamaican Beef Patties, straight from Brooklyn. We love Jamaican Beef Patties- flaky crusts and spicy meat; they are literally happiness that you hold right in your hands. But here’s the thing, we’ve never given Kevin anything. I’ve never thrust a bag of baked goods towards him. I’ve been trying to figure out why he thought to bring us those Patties, and I think it’s because when you give out love to people in tangible ways, other people see it and they want it and they start to give out love of their own. This is why love will always be the greatest thing, because it’s something that all of us want. And all we have to do to get it, is give it away.