Thanks, Mom!

There's a whole world of San Francisco outside of my little corner of the Richmond that I hardly ever see.  I walk 8 blocks from home to work every day, and sometimes venture 6 blocks in the other direction after work for yoga, but besides that, it's mostly neighborhood restaurants, Trader Joes, and the occasional trip to the Kabuki or downtown for shopping.  

But there's this magical place called the Mission, where there are not one or two but many vegan restaurants, plentiful sun, no parking and a colorful array of homeless people.  I may have to overcome my fear of the latter two things (a homeless guy threw a pigeon at Kevin's head once!!!) because the food and the sun are lovely.

I had lunch today at Gracias Madre, an entirely vegan mexican restaurant with my coworker Scott.  And of course, I forgot to photograph the food.  (Plus I feel goofy about doing that in public.)  But we sat on the nice warm patio and I had some delightful veggie tacos, refried black beans and green juice.  And this picture happened:

And then she was vegan
Photo by Scott Reed 

I'm sure the name of the restaurant has more to do with thanking mother earth than with thanking, for example, my mother, but I love the idea (and the visual) of being thankful for the bounty we've been provided with, whatever the case may be.

I know my mom suffered at the hands of my willful pickiness, but it was reassuring to have her there, gardening, canning and cooking throughout my childhood.  Even when I didn't fully appreciate her efforts, and certainly did not want to taste them, they shaped who I was and who I have become.

I've long been told that I resemble my mother, and she and I have even discussed that moment, when you hear your own voice or look in the mirror and think "I AM MY MOTHER!!"  In some cases that proclamation is accompanied by a tone of dread or defeat, but for me, it's more a sense of surprise, or awe.  We may think we are unique, special, one of a kind, but sometimes we are history, we are family, we are a just pile of genes that say "brown hair, distinctive laugh, German temper, and fingers like tiny icicles".

Gracias, Madre!