When Dawn and Bread Breaks….

Dear Reader:

Monday morning I set my mobile phone timer to go off at 6 am so I could check to see if my post ( I had written the evening before) had published… for some crazy reason when I set the date and time, as usual, it said ” Re-try” so I did… but nothing?

Luckily I located the post intact ( in another category ) but I couldn’t find the “publish now” selection to click on. Frustrated I glanced at the time- it was now around 6:30 and I was clueless what to do. ( When it comes to technology I know one way in and one way out… but don’t throw me a detour)!

Who would be up this early who could help me? Less than 30 seconds later… I knew-Anne! She literally gets up before ” the crack of dawn” so I tentatively sent this text.

Are you up? Problem with today’s post-need to see if ” two heads” are better than one.” Especially mine! 😉

Seconds later this response arrived.

Yes! I was baking earlier. I hope you like focaccia bread!

( I had never heard of it… but just the thought of the smell of warm bread on an early morn had my mouth watering. I replied…

OMG!!! Coming!

Sure enough when I entered Anne’s home the smell of fresh baked flat sourdough bread had me practically reeling in happiness! By the way Focaccia bread is Italian with garlic herbs,cheese, and black olives… so good!

Anne said she joined a group-on Facebook called ” Sourdough Geeks.” All I can say is that bread yesterday was the ” geekiest, goodest” bread I ever put in my mouth… since I was a child!

Anne is fearless when it comes to technology… she just starts hitting things until something works…I am always so afraid I am going to lose it or permanently mess up my new mobile phone or computer. Within seconds… she had gotten into ” Publish Now” -when I asked what she hit she said she just found three dots together and hit them… bingo !

I ate one slice of focaccia bread at Anne’s and brought two more home. As I munched happily away… the touch and smell of the bread took me far back in childhood memories.

Growing up in Fayetteville we had a Lebanese family who lived next to us. On special occasions and certain holidays Mrs Fidel would come over with hot, freshly baked flat unleavened bread. It smelled so good! ( She always cut up small pieces with her homemade butter/ fig dip for mother because of her one hand.)

But for the rest of us she spread newspaper across the kitchen table placing the mound of hot steaming bread in the middle… with a larger bowl of her butter/fig dip. Then she would stand back and watch as we kids tugged and pulled bites of bread straight from the loaf mound-dipping it in that amazing sauce! I think Mrs Fidel enjoyed the spectacle more than anyone as she laughed and laughed-we must have looked like three little pigs at the trough! It is one of my favorite memories from childhood.

Isn’t it strange how the senses of smell and taste can take us back to the past faster than other stimulants …where certain memories stay forever?

So until tomorrow…No doubt Jesus understood this when he demonstrated the breaking of the bread as a symbol of life…including his own…to be sacrificed for us… at the last supper.

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

As I returned home the sun had just started splintering through the trees and landing on certain flowers in the garden! Oh what a beautiful morning!

An ” Anne” Daisy from her front drive

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

1 Response to When Dawn and Bread Breaks….

  1. Jo Dufford says:

    Isn’t it great to have good friends whom you can call anytime, and they are ready to help. I’m grateful for my friends like that, but if they baked , that would certainly be an added bonus. I’d come anytime, but I’m sorry to say that I would certainly hope a bakery of some kind would be open. Also I would be no help with technology. Again I remind you that I’m like the lady’s husband who heard her shouting, “James Lewis , get away from that wheelbarrow. You know you know nothing about machinery”. Wonder if Anne wants a new friend???

Leave a Reply