raw

Today I made a formal introduction of sushi to my daughter.  She has seen me eat the stuff many times, and knows that it is my personal eating-out-treat.

So, I was surprised when she invited me to lunch today at a Japanese restaurant.  She thought it was a brand-new place because our village had copies of their takeout menu mailed.  Since she is finished with finals for a while, she is taking the first few days to relax and it is kind of cool that she thought of me as a relaxing time.  Not always a daily experience for many mothers and daughters, especially the two of us, mostly because she still does know the history of why I left her father.  True, he was not much of a parent to or for her, but surely knows that there is a huge back story to this whole mess.

Whatever.  It really does not matter because I will never tell her all, or any, of that stuff.  I am feeling as though healing is gaining on me.  There have been several times in the past few months when I have found myself doing something that previously wary, or not doing something that used to be propelled by fear.  Well, except for tonight.  A particular car was behind me for the half-hour drive home from errands.  Still trailing me as I approached my driveway, I kept moving and circled around in a neighborhood near to me.  I lost that car, but probably because his path was mine until it was not any more.  It was a pretty tender, one might say raw, experience and it surprised me, both that I noticed that car and that I felt threatened and vulnerable in a way that I have not for a very long time.

It is fascinating how things fit together, or at least seem to.  Another whatever.

So, the restaurant has terrible service.  We waited a long time in a nearly empty place and when our food finally came, I had to request utensils.  Twice.  Not a big deal, and the staff folk were sweet, nice and helpful to my daughter, as this was her first experience with this kind of food.

Anyway, we had bento boxes with a nice variety of rolls and some really yummy scallops.  I ordered an eel roll and let my daughter choose another.  The eel and her salmon were fresh and had a lovely mouth feel, which is just as important to sushi as flavor of the fish and the other components blending properly.  I ate all but one piece of those two rolls and saved my California roll for her to take home because she really liked that one.  It was also her first taste of miso soup, which she liked, but declined to have me show her how to make.

So, and anyway, it is a pleasure to write about something so ordinary, a day so lacking in bad stuff, momentary driving fright aside.  

And, now I have a sushi companion.  Pretty darn nice, this life.