I need to let you in on a secret. No, you already know I am not a food photographer. That’s not a secret.
Here is the secret: since just after Christmas, I have turned down the bed for Denise. You see, the new quilt I made for Christmas is long. I made it that way so I could properly make up the bed in a 1970s bedspread kind of way…now only seen in SOME hotels and the homes of old ladies for the most part. I like the quilt to cover the pillows. It’s lovely during the day–but at night becomes problematic–too much quilt at the top.
This means, every night I readjust the quilt and turn down the bed. After the first night, Denise quipped “where is my mint?” The next night I found a mint. Santa had left some peppermint patties. I turn down the bed. I put a mint on the pillow.
Denise comes to bed to read, grabs the mint and puts it on her nightstand. On Tuesday nights she puts it in the nightstand drawer. She ate one or two the first month, but the one currently in use has been reappearing for months. It is “her” mint. She warned me not to eat it while she was gone.
While she has been gone to help bring our first grandchild into the world; I’ve been turning down the bed for her, snapping a picture, and texting it to her before I go to bed. I have played around a bit with it. A note with “I love you” scrawled on it to go with the mint, the mint under the words “As you wish” in the center of the quilt instead of on the pillow. I’ve taken pictures at various angles of the mint on the pillow. Tonight though–I worked hard on that thing I never do: food photography.
Granted I didn’t work as hard as Denise did today; and definitely not as hard as the new mom of the grand-baby. He weighed in at 8 lbs even. He’s beautiful, perfect, and wonderful by all accounts and photos of him. Being in the room was awesome, I heard over and over again. Lots of tears of joy have threatened–none more than for Denise’s excitement. She’s tired, bouncing off the walls, and I wish I could be there if all I could do was see the sparkle in Denise’s eyes. (Ok, so I would be wanting some serious new baby time and to hug the new mama, wink at the new daddy and give him a hug too. Don’t think I am not thrilled by that.)
Instead, I am over 2300 miles away and there is turn down service to tend. I rushed out, got 8 pounds of coffee, and babbled to the barista. I rushed back home. I turned down the bed…set up the picture. Rearranged. Turned on more lights. Rearranged. Considered that real food bloggers do this sort of thing as often as I turn down the bed. Maybe more often. I tried to steady my hands (they always shake.) And I took this picture:
8 pounds of coffee for 8 pounds of newborn. On the Day You Were Born just because I love it for birth days, and her mint. Of course.
So now you know if you didn’t already-I am crazy about Denise and you’ve learned my lesbian bedroom secret: turn down service.
Good night my love. I am so happy you were in the room. I am so happy you are a grandmother. I am so glad that Johnny Mac Pippin and Jenn made it safely through labor and delivery.
