Tomato Sandwiches

In the closing days of July I can be found eating one singular thing in mass quantities; a tomato sandwich.

A soft, squishy, spongey white bread cradling thick slices of our own garden grown succulent watermelon-wet purple tomato. If I can sacrifice my inherent impatience I hold I will adorn it with three things; nayonaise, (the veal denying version of the fantastical Miracle Whip of my saccharine-sour youth), bread and butter crisp pickles, (homemade always), and elephant ear-sized leaves of basil, (the only other thing we grow). Summertime is about so many luxuries. The tomato sandwich is mine.

The Summer days begin with tomatoes as my morning coffee's spouse. Breakfasts are followed by a lunch a few hours later by my some-assembly-required sandwich, or else the soggy mess demands a spoon. I close each day with the only meal I yearn to have waiting for me when I get home after 9 pm work-weekdays. 

They never fail to fulfill, and I never tire. Those juicy thin skinned plumm-ey bombs so succulent and drip-ey messy you need to indulge over a skink, a towel, or with a bib.

By the time October rolls around our tomato vines have withered, the fruits shrunken and toughened. My belly is satiated and I resume the internet search for "clinical signs of toxic doses of lycopene."

todays bounty

(P.S. I would have included a photo of my breakfast tomato delicacy,, but I ate it too fast).

Tomato sandwiches are my lustful Summer mealtime desire. They remind me that there cannot be balance when the season is so narrow, and the yearning so insatiable. Who wants to try to be disciplined when you wait a whole other calendar to get back in season? Me, Nope, I will eat as many as I can for as long as I can, year after year. Summer and tomatoes, (Purple Cherokee's to be specific). What could be more perfect? 

Could it be that one good, no, great, (those Cherokees are that), thing marries one with another if you simply choose to recognize it as such? Summer sun and all that its bounty blooms.

prepping for another sandwich

Maybe the marriages are all that we need to look for? The ways in which one magnificent indulgent joy comes from a tiny place that everyone else overlooks.

Maybe if I can alter the perspective, just a teeny bit, I can marry one spectacular triumphant savor into the other parts that aren't so fanciful on the routine basis?

I imagine painting them as works of art. The color is so deep and robust

There is no balance in veterinary medicine. Nor, is there any longer a balance worth seeking. I live my veterinary work life in the maximum height and depth of everything I do. I chose this life, (or, it chose me. I cannot discern the difference any longer). It is the price of being me... so much passion for so many things and just a few trips around the sun to accomplish all that lies ahead. I don't know why people seek balance. That place where nothing swings, or moves, or gets felt for all that it beholds. We are veterinarians. The grittiest of the professions. There is no glamour here. There is no fortune to be won. There are quiet, voiceless badges of courage and lives that will never repay you for the impact that you have delivered. There is perfection in knowing that you can change a fate just because you set your eyes upon them, took a moment to listen, and decided that every little life has unimaginable power to heal another human. Our pets mean everything to us. They are the guiding influence on so much of our daily lives. They hold the calm presence that makes all of the inescapable turmoil of the rest of our lives worthwhile. I am so lucky to not have banal ordinariness about. 

Our clinic Queen, Seraphina

Do any of us want to live with just our toes in the water and not still want to dive in? Don't we all want to feel compelled to jump in, immerse ourselves in the glorious wonderfulness of that one thing that is just soo good you kind of get obsessed with it? That is my kind of balance. The balance of a veterinarian who knows what she loves and still loves it too excess. 

What are your favorite season based delicacy? I would love to hear about them!