November Something, 2021--Sweet Potato Awareness Month
November is month for family gatherings, and with them come the most awkward moments and memories. Recently, I had a conversation with my first cousin about men and kids, and life in general. She was making her point about family obligations when she stumbled into the weeds. It went something like this, Cousin: You remember when you were in my wedding, right? Me: You mean when I was a bridesmaid, and then I wasn't? Cousin: Me: Cousin: What are you talking about? Me: Cousin: You were a bridesmaid in my wedding. Me: I got demoted from bridesmaid to house party. Cousin: You were a bridesmaid in my wedding. Me: You fired me. Cousin: Me: Anyways, that was two weddings ago, why'd you bring it up? ... Luckily, we are still friends today. I think we go too far back to let something like a little old wedding party mishap and demotion stop us from moving forward. But some friendships do not stand the test of time. I cannot begin to think why they don't. Along with family get togethers, this month also is the time to celebrate the lowly sweet potato. And in that regard, I think of all my long time female friends with whom I share recipes, helpful advice, books, and the occasional glass of wine. All of this is to say, that I have only one goal left in my life, and that is to become a Sweet Potato Queen. Author Jill Conner Brown is the founder and inventor of the concept of the middle aged, middle class Sweet Potato Queens, a loosely woven group of loose women who go around marching and participating in parades in the deep South. Ms. Brown has written nine books about this real group of women. The latest one is titled, Fat is the New 30: The Sweet Potato Queens' Guide to Coping With the Crappy Parts of Life. Her first book was published in 1999, but the concept of Sweet Potato Queen came to her when she was looking around for something to do after "passing through a bit of the doldrums," in the early 1980s. The idea for the book was born when she entered four friends in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Jackson, Mississippi. The parade ready Sweet Potato Queen is a mix of a beauty queen wannabe and a high school marching band majorette. Sequins, Glitter, and big hair in the form of wigs are requirements for membership in the group. Without spoiling the ending, I will tell you that I have recently been experiencing the doldrums myself, partly because of the quarantine and partly because I'm approaching the birthday of a new decade in my life. And right now, today, I have literally been assisting a member of my own family with literal crap due to his recent misadventure at the hospital just yesterday. It's no secret who I am talking about. My son, known as Muscles Malone in this blog, has the burden of living with a serious bowel disease. But enough about him. This post is supposed to be about me. All me. I AM I NEED OF A PARADE I TELL YOU! Finally, to wind it all down, I will admit that there have been other times in my life when demotion and the doldrums have gotten the better of me. For example, in another post about a year ago, I told about the time I got demoted from bringing sweet potatoes to bringing fruit salad to my family's Thanksgiving meal. It seems my version of the traditional Thanksgiving dish was bit too boozy. I had always brought fruit salad, but that one year, I had been asked to bring the more complicated dish of sweet potatoes. Leave it to me to booze them up too much. That year, football game watchers lay passed out in the den after the big Thanksgiving feast. But not from tryptophan in the turkey. It was the extra bourbon I added to the yams that did it. The following year, I was quietly told to bring the fruit salad to the family celebration. From the dizzying heights of the sweet potato casserole to the bottomless pit of the fruit salad I fell, all in the span of one Thanksgiving. The thing about fruit salad is that it is total frippery. It looks real pretty sitting there in it's cut crystal serving dish. Like the Sweet Potato Queen on her parade day float, it's all window dressing with no substance. No one ever eats the fruit salad, as their minds and guts are too stuffed with the weightiness of the dinner mainstays. |
AuthorKaren Schwabenland--Keeper of a daily blog of written matter, reporter of events large and small, and charlatan extraordinaire Archives
September 2022
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