Finding the joy in your journey…
Have you ever felt helpless in the midst of all chaos? In your mind and heart you know that you can help, yet you don’t quite know how. You don’t want to impose, or imply yourself amid troubling times. And then, it’s too late and you’re left feeling like “I could have done something more…”
In November of 2007, seven months after having sinus surgery #3, I was diagnosed with Aspergillus disease (life-threatening if not controlled) and underwent sinus surgery #4. On March 17, 2008, my mother suffered a massive heart attack, stroke and lay in a diabetic coma on the floor of her home for two days before being found. I live 12 hours away from my mother. On October 17, 2009 my father suffers a massive heart attack and dies 40 miles outside of Chicago on a road trip to surprise me and my daughter. On August 21, 2010 my daughters god-mother and my dear friend dies from brain and liver cancer after surviving cancer 18 years prior and the next day, August 22, 2010 my step-mother dies from throat cancer. Two months later another dear friend is diagnosed with stage 2 lung cancer and she’s not a smoker. Alarms are going off inside of me all over the place. I have never felt so helpless in my life.
“Oh Lord, I have this gift, yet how can I use it to help others?” Having grown up in a household that lived, cooked, healed and survived off of the earth (no McDonald’s in our house), I began to realize how I could use my gift of cooking to the benefit of others. I realized cooking is my purpose. At an early age, I learned to cook for life. I was taught that we should not live to eat but, eat to live. Food is the foundation for life. Grandma’s Soup was just a thought 19 years ago when my gift of cooking chased me down. I let go of the dream of becoming a cardiovascular surgeon, changed my course of studies and completed a degree in Culinary Arts at Kendall College. Still hungry for a purpose more than just cooking, I continued my studies at Le Cordon Bleu completing with a degree in Culinary Arts Management and Nutrition. Still unsure of what to do with my gift, I began teaching cooking classes. I discovered that I enjoyed it and that it was rewarding to be able to teach someone how to eat healthy and enjoy cooking all at the same time.
We are in the midst of the most profound transformation in human history and a tidal wave of change is sweeping through communities everywhere. With hunger statistics off the charts, 52.5{83319b28ffaf758a19fca1a94636613a1f6b78d822483999ade938b4d848ab9d} of all US deaths steming from heart disease, cancer and diabetes, 25{83319b28ffaf758a19fca1a94636613a1f6b78d822483999ade938b4d848ab9d} of our population suffering from obesity and food allergies on the rise, Grandma’s Soup can be the change that you want to see.
An apple a day really does keep the doctor away! Often there is nothing more than the spark of an idea and the willingness to step out on faith to impact change, make a difference and start a revolution. Grandma’s Soup is the change that I want to be.