Stacy E.
Yelp
As Christmas approaches this year, I've found myself meditating on what I am grateful for.
A few years ago, I was diagnosed with an illness affecting the nervous system and was terrified as my functions were intermittently glitching and, at times, nearly shutting down. I found myself both listless and confused, and routine tasks became overwhelming. I realized that it had been weeks since I'd had a proper meal; I had fallen into a habit of having a bowl of cereal or something equally mindless every time I got hungry. Lethargic grazing. I worried about what inadequate nutrition was doing to my already sick body.
The financial implications of my illness were not clear yet, as I did not know how long it would take to stabilize and what my medical needs would be going forward. As a result, I was concerned about money and did not feel safe spending on quality restaurant meals several times a week, but had to figure something out, as I was beginning to feel even worse with my recently devolved eating habits.
I discovered Taste Community Restaurant and went there regularly for a few months to build myself back up with real food again. The restaurant was beautiful, the menu was amazing, and the owners were very nice. I think they could tell that I was traumatized and demoralized and that my case went a bit beyond simply being broke. (I didn't talk to anyone there about what I was going through, but was clearly crushed.) I appreciated that they held a space for me and that they created such a warm place for people in need to come for sustenance.
Most of the volunteers were very nice. On one visit, I recognized a former classmate from middle school named Elizabeth Forney McCarthy (although I remembered her as Liz), who volunteers at Taste restaurant. She looked uncomfortable and resentful as she brought drinks to my table and shot me disgusted looks from across the room. (Could I not have tried harder in life so she wouldn't be put in this position? How thoughtless of me.) I think the cognitive dissonance of someone she knew turning out to be one of "those people" made her reflexively antagonistic; I had inadvertently made it harder for her to virtue-signal in peace, as her real feelings about "losers" surfaced abruptly by my presence there. Having said that, I am quite sure she was friendly to everyone else.
My health has improved since those visits to this restaurant, and I am glad that the disorienting and scary period of time right after my diagnosis is safely in the rearview mirror. I'm happy to have memories of being supported during that difficult time. Life can be even more beautiful than before once the worst storms pass. Taste Community Restaurant is a wonderful lighthouse.