It’s Five-Minute Friday with lovely Lisa-Jo!
Set a timer and just write. Don’t worry about making it just right or not.
For me? An exercise in letting go and letting words flow. Five minutes only. {yes, I do set a timer and it quacks like a duck at 5 minutes, which totally makes me smile}
Today’s prompt: Comfort.
And go…
I’m going to keep it real here: When I heard this week’s word was COMFORT, my mind went right to food. Comfort food. And then I made a batch of popcorn on the stove.
It’s not that I need food to give me comfort, but there has always been the comfort of family and home attached to food in my life.
My mom always talks fondly of “Saturday night hamburgers” made on the farm when she was growing up. The hamburgers WERE very yummy, but I think it was more of the family coming together over those hamburgers that produced such warm memories…such comfort.
And she went on to bring that same level of comfort in our home. Tuesday night tacos before Girl Scouts. Large batches of BBQs {sloppy joes} when extended family was in town. Chicken chili, stove-top popcorn, sugar muffins, the list goes on…
It was all YUMMY, but it wasn’t really the food. It was the love being put into the food. The comfort of a mom who cared about home and warmth and love more than perfection or presentation in that food. The food was never more important than the family or company sharing it.
I hope to be passing on that same comfort my mom gave me with our Saturday morning donuts and first day of school chocolate chip scones and… you get the idea.
Comfort can be found in food and home and family…and you gave me all of that, Mom, and still do. We love you dearly!
Happy Mother’s Day!
Stop.
And now I’m off to link up this post with the fabulous Five Minute Friday community! You MUST take the time to read the words of these BRAVE writers!
I'm Erin, a wife, boy mom x 3, writer, and runner in Nebraska! I'm excited to share all my favorites relating to faith, family, fashion, and fitness in this space! Enjoy! 
Food can really bring back so many memories with the smells and the tastes. I love traditions.
That is very true! And traditions bring comfort as well, don’t they?!
Hi Erin,
This is my first Five Minute Friday as a participant and how fun that you are the person right before me in the link up. I so enjoyed meeting you in Nebraska, and now feel like you introduced me to your Mom! I too went straight to food with a word like comfort. And the food was really about the people. That’s what makes it comforting is it not? I’m hosting my second daughter’s 8-year old birthday party tomorrow evening. She wanted pizza (thank you freezer section of Wal-Mart, you now know why I was there). I pray my hospitality will duplicate your mom’s. That the people are more important than the party details. The people.
I loved meeting you as well, Alex! I cannot WAIT to read your book chatting with you and hearing such glowing words from Lisa-Jo! “The food was really about the people” is such truth. I have been MISERABLE at get-togethers when the food was stressing me out. The community brings the comfort, not the perfectly placed food! Praying your daughter’s birthday party is fun for ALL of you!
Oh I just adore that. Yes, I feel thankful that I think of my mother and family with comfort food as well. I love those traditions you have. You’re so blessed.
Thanks for sharing! xo
Thanks for your comment, Leigh! May we be those kinds of moms as well, right?!
Such a good post.
I’m reading Bread and Wine right now and I just love the way she describes food. So much of my life has had to do with the comfort of food and my mom’s kitchen. And now, I’m thinking of what to cook for dinner tomorrow….
ha – when you dm’d me, I was snacking on some comfort food and it’s exactly what I thought about!!
Love the memories of your time with your mom (I wish I had more of those).
This post is GREAT! I too find comfort in food, but I also think at times it reminds me of my mom and the homecooked meals she used to make that I of course don’t do. Thanks for your words today!
We do refer to it as comfort but like you said I think it has more to do with the family, friend and memories that the food reminds us of. I love being able to pass down memories to my kids as we sit and eat certain foods that my mother or mother-in-law used to cook.
Food/smells…they can trigger warm memories, can’t they! I remember warm popovers with honey butter. (I make them today) popcorn on the stove (Still my preferred method) and baked apples with cinnamon. oh my.
We make homemade pizzas on Friday nights. Each person gets their own to top how they like. and my 5 year old does not like being away from home on Fridays;)
and whenever it snows, I have to make hot cocoa with butter toast. and I don’t even care that much for butter toast:)
So glad you are gifting your kiddos with the same experience of the comforts of home!
Comfort food! I love the traditions we can create for our family with food….popcorn, chocolate scones, saturday night hamburgers…..we associate great times so much with food. What a blessing we get to be as moms to establish those traditions that our kids will never forget. Thanks for posting. Blessings to you! I found you at FMF.
Food and comfort totally go together for me too. While i”m not from the south, some good fried chicken, rice and beans and some home cooked macaroni and cheese make my mouth water. Sometimes though my favourite recipes are the ones we had in my family growing up, and while I’ve made them on my own, there is just something about them when my mom makes them. Mom’s put that little spoonful of love into it, just makes it that much better. I think that your boys are definately feeling the love their mom gives them, both in the kitchen and out.
Erin — what a great post to read on Mothers Day! I had not seen it earlier. When you are a young mom you don’t even realize what little things your children will remember (or even now what the granchildren will love). For those who stress out about it, it seems the easiest thing to do is have a few things that you are comfortable making and the family likes a lot. Experimenting with different recipes is good, too. Otherwise the sugar muffins would not have made it to everyone’s favorites list. (My mom did not make those!) I loved hearing your boys say that Panera’s grilled cheese is like Grandma Mac’s (that’s me!). Who knew? Love you, Erin!