Last summer some friends and I were at the beach and ended up sitting near this older man. It had to be about 25 degrees that day and there he was sitting in his long sleeved collard shirt, pants and rain boots. I turned to my friend next to me and said he reminds me so much of the old man from Up! As some friends drifted off to sleep and others watching the volleyball game behind us, two of us sat there watching him, as I wondered what his story was and what he could possibly be fishing for at the shallow end of Kits Beach. Not long after, he got up and slowly walked towards us and in a thick accent asked if we would be so kind as to watch his station while he went to get some fish and chips. "Of course!" we said as we both looked at each other thinking; how sweet is he? When he came back I said, I'm going to go talk to him! I've said this before but I'm always curious to know what your favorite food was growing up or what your mom used to make for you that you loved.
I found out he was fishing for sardines and he explained to me how he would throw the net out and wait for them to get tangled up in it. As he's telling me this I notice this humongous rock by his chair wondering what in the world he needed that for (I found out later when I saw him throw this massive rock at a SEAGULL! haha) I asked how he liked to cook his sardines and he said just coated in a little flour and fried in butter! Simplicity, I love. Without me even asking, he went on to tell me that he born in Croatia and was a retired Geophysicist. When I got around to asking him what his favorite food was growing up his reaction was absolutely priceless. He threw his head back as he laughed and closed his eyes to think about it. What did he remember the most? Braised beef stew with polenta. Complete comfort food, of course. This man made my whole day.
3 comments:
Nice blog.
i just tumbled on your blog from joy/baker..and just loved your post. My father in law is from Croatia (and recently went there, many strangers there welcomed him to stay with them simply because he shared a common croatian last name)-- and i loved how you knew that secret of making someone feel good: Ask them about themselves. Loved the photos/visual. Thanks so much for sharing. I'm going to print it out & share w/our family.
I feel honored that you would share this with your family, I love hearing the story of others. You could just tell this man had so much history behind him. I was definitely touched.
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