Author’s Note: This poem is a love letter to my family, friends and community, who has taken care of me and made me who I am today.
Spanish speakers often refer to their partners as “mi media naranja” or my half-orange
If you cut an orange in a perfect half, they are mirror images of one another
What an exquisite way to describe your loved ones!
When someone asks me what my top love languages are
I often want to respond with,
“Food.”
Instead, I list my rankings: acts of service, quality time and words of affirmation.
There’s something inherently intimate and familial about the way we love through food,
Whether that is recreating a multi-generational recipe with no accurate measurements,
Just andaz kore dio (or guess-timate)
Your friend sneakily picking up the tab
Or your dad bringing home a crate worth of a particular snack
Because you had mentioned in passing that you liked it.
It’s them asking which drink you liked more,
And offering you your favorite, even though it was their favorite too
Or handing you a box of blueberries without asking,
Knowing that you get hangry around 7 PM.
Sometimes you don’t need to say out loud, “I love you”
Rather, you say, “I made this soup and stirred some of the love from my heart into it,
Would you like some?”
