Friends and Tabbouleh

Sometimes you never know what you’ll learn to like when you meet new people.

I’m not always the most adventurous person, but for the sake of neighborliness I found a new food (actually a bunch of new foods) that will forever be a reminder of a terrific friendship.

Tabbouleh.

If you’ve never eaten it, it looks somewhat strange.  It’s one of those salads you’re not sure what it is by looking.  In reality, it is parsley, tomato, onion, bulgur (or cracked) wheat, lemon juice, olive oil, and a little salt and pepper.  Not so scary when you know what’s in it, huh?

For me it is also symbolic of friendship.  You’re not sure what you’re getting in a new friend until you get to know her.

Many years ago, new neighbors moved in behind our house.  There was a fence between the properties and so I couldn’t really see much to learn about them, but they often spoke a different language, one I couldn’t recognize.  I got to meet my friend Olga at the school bus stop.  Their family is Lebanese. Through the friendship of our daughters and being Girl Scout leaders together, we became really good friends.    We decided to cut a gate in the fence.

The first time we were invited to their house, we were offered a mix of Lebanese and American styled foods.  Among those foods was a bowl of tabbouleh.  Olga’s mom, Lody, made this salad and is “reknown” for her attention to chopping the parsley incredibly fine.  Everybody was commenting on having to have some of Lody’s tabbouleh, so I had to try some too.  It was delicious!  As were almost all the other Lebanese foods we sampled.   (The grape leaves still have yet to grow on me.)   After many years of eating together, Olga once joked that her American friends all looked forward to the Lebanese food almost more than her Lebanese friends.

Olga and her family now live in Chicago.  I miss them a lot, but I’m not the greatest at long-distance relationships.  Luckily, I feel like Olga and I can pick up easily even if we haven’t spoken for months.

Yesterday I made tabbouleh.  It will forever remind me of the blessings of the friendship with this family and of all that I learned about another culture because of them.

I have many wonderful friends who color and fill my life and challenge me to grow in ways I would probably not normally venture.  I thank God for all of them.

Proverbs 17:17  “A friend loves at all times.”

Today’s Gospel lesson was of the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.  Jesus wept and was moved by the sadness of his friends, Mary and Martha.  Mary and Martha could only begin to imagine how their lives would be changed by their friendship with Jesus.  He opened up a future previously unimaginable to them.

Tabbouleh is a Mediterranean salad.  I wonder if Jesus ate tabbouleh?  I think he’d find it a fitting food to share with friends.

What is a favorite food that you first enjoyed because of a friend?

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