Doesn't that picture look amazing? Ham, salami, melted gooey mozzarella cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pepperoncini, smothered in a homemade Italian cream dressing and stuffed into a pizza crust. This, my friends, is the deli boat (or the torpedo, as it's called nowadays). No, no, I didn't make it. Even if I DID somehow manage to perfect it, it still wouldn't taste as good. There are few things in my life besides my family, my God, and my country as it was established, that I am completely, irrevocably devoted to. On that no more than a handful list are the Padres, Austen & Bronte, and this sandwich/calzone.
After our unborn baby and I seemingly starved and boiled in the DMV (just trying to get my name changed, dang it!) all morning, we headed over to Cusimano's, a local pizzeria. I accidentally discovered this pizzeria 10 years ago as a young college kid after an afternoon of rollerblading in a nearby park (SOOO the thing to do back then). Immediately I fell in love. It suddenly became my favorite food, and knowing that says a lot because all that know me know that I love good food! Back then, it was called Jet's Pizza; it since has undergone new management but they kept the same great quality and, of course, this lovely beast. I have been returning to this hole in the wall pizzeria for ten years. It's part of "home" to me. Some things I've come to relish in, experience pure enjoyment, and this is one of them. So as I sat there with my current book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, savoring my craving as only a pregnant foodie can, I recognized the beauty of just being able to sit there, taking my time doing close to nothing, and pondering the last paragraph in the last chapter I read there:
"I look at the Augusteum, and I think that perhaps my life has not actually been so chaotic, after all. It is merely this world that is chaotic, bringing changes to us all that nobody could have anticipated...Yesterday I might have been a glorious monument to somebody, true enough - but tomorrow I could be a fireworks depository. Even in the Eternal City, says the Augusteum, one must always be prepared for the riotous and endless waves of transformation. (Page 75)"
The analysis on the book is a whole different topic, obviously, but I wanted to illustrate "il bel far niente," or "the beauty of doing nothing." If we can drop much of our American culture and take the time to actually relax, we can establish in ourselves calmness of character and gratitude for our world. We're given much in life, especially those at least as fortunate in life as I am, and some was given purely for the sake of our enjoyment and as a testimony of Divinity. Some find it in observing the snow-capped purple mountains at dawn, or the resounding waves crashing on the shore. Some find it in the sweetness of a child's laughter or smile. And then there are some, like me, that can find it in a sandwich.
And with that, I conclude, may your lives have zeal and your lemons have zest.
Jenn
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