This is Sheriff Peanut Butter Brickle. You might say that because it’s a million degrees plus five in this Florida place that it’s not soup weather. You might say that.
You might wonder why Girl Person decided to make vegetable soup in a million degrees plus five. I wondered. And in fact, as I have heard her say before, she has a reason. Her great grandmother once told her that if you make something cold to drink on a cold day, you’ll feel warmer. If you make something hot to eat on a hot day, you’ll feel cooler. And well. That’s the craziest thing I have ever heard.
It’s also the craziest thing Digby’s ever heard.
But alas, Girl Person is a bit crazy. She is also a bit overzealous when it comes to buying vegetables sometimes. She really loves vegetables. But at the end of the week, it’s either use it or lose it time. And no one should ever waste food. Ever. Especially when you can make some soup.
Now. Let’s just say that vegetables aren’t my favorite. Unless someone comes up with a peanut butter zucchini, you can count me out. But I do like the smell of soup. To me, it always smells the same, no matter what’s in it. It always smells like home. No matter where we are living.
In this soup, Girl Person had corn, potatoes, tomatoes, squash, beans and herbs. Not peanut butter though. Although in some places, I hear they have peanut soup!
But we had a vegetable soup in our house on wheels. In a million degree weather plus five degrees. But as the persons ate the soup, it was apparent that what was really warm were their hearts. Content that they didn’t waste all their veggies.
And Girl Person was happy she had dinner for two nights. Probably no one else was having hot vegetable soup at camp. And probably, no one was as happy as us.
There are things we waste every day. Water. Food. Then there are things we waste like good days, sunshiney and happiness.
All of these things are not to be taken for granted. It’s no secret that others long for those things. We may view them as necessities. But others may seem them as luxuries, because they never have them.
So at the end of the day, think of all the things you have wasted. Could you have used them in another way? Or could you have given them away? Could you have made soup? Could you have spared a kind word for someone else that they needed?
Be thankful for what you have, even if you don’t think it’s a lot. If it fits in a pot, it’s more than enough.
–Sheriff Peanut Butter Brickle
