What Grief Tastes Like Now

With more free time and flexibility in my schedule, thanks to my “corporate employment hiatus,” I’ve been putting more time into cooking. Or at least trying. It’s something that is easy to get away from when you’re single, and you care more about what your dog eats than what you eat, but I’ve made a solid effort.

Thanks to Ken’s influence, it’s my third year of a little raised garden bed where I mostly grow herbs, though this year, I did plant a kind of pepper—if I could only remember what kind. 🤷🏼‍♂️

My little garden: pepper plant, parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and two basil plants, bare from a recipe.

He grew all kinds of things in a little garden behind our apartment on the north side of Chicago—squash, tomatoes, green beans, and more that I can’t remember. His thumb was so naturally green. But it makes complete sense because he was a nurturer of things: people, pets, plants.