Love, Served Warm

I wrote a skit for MOPS. It was performed at this morning’s meeting, which was themed around the meaning and symbolism of the family dinner table. Even if schedules, temperaments, and life make having a nightly family dinner replete with candlelight and mom-in-pearls impossible, it is still possible to pass along the benefits. We can create a sense of belonging, open lines of communication, and nourishment no matter where we happen to be.

Here is Love, Served Warm, by Me. I played Child #3.

Characters:

Mom
Child #1 (youngest and very picky)
Child #2
Child #3

Scene: Dinnertime. Children are sitting around the table as mom brings bowls and platters and sets them down. They look eager as she begins to serve the food.

Child #1: (alarmed) Mommy, what is this?

Mom: It’s just mashed potatoes. We’ve had them before.

Child #1: (picking at potatoes with wrinkled nose) What is in mashed potatoes?

Child #2: Potatoes!

Child #3: Greasy grimy gopher guts!

Mom: That’s enough. It’s just potatoes, milk, and butter whipped together.

Child #1: I guess that’s okay…

Mom continues serving each child

Child #1: What is this!?

Mom: (after deep breath): It’s chicken. We’ve had this many times before too.

Child #1: (looking puzzled) What is IN chicken?

Mom: Chicken is chicken.

Child #1: But what is IN chicken?

Mom: It’s just chicken. Chicken is chicken.

Child #2: You know, like the birds from Kentucky that Santa Claus cooks and puts in those big buckets mommy brings to picnics?

Child #1: But what is IN chicken?

Mom: Fatty acids, including linoleic acid, phosopholipids, asorbic acid and beta-carotene, to some extent. The chemical composition varies from producer to producer. Then you get into the whole free-range debate. We will save that for another night.

Child #1: Is there flour in chicken?

Mom: No, flour is usually in things like cookies.

All Three Children: Oh! Oh! Can we have cookies?

Mom: (shaking head and laughing) No!

Child #1: Um, okay. (takes hestitant bite).

Mom dishes out the final bowl onto childrens’ plates.

Child #3: What is this!?

Mom: It’s love.

Child #2: Love?

Mom: Love. You’ve had it before.

Child #3: I think we had it last Christmas, when grandma and grandpa were here?

Child #2: Oh, and we always have it on Thanksgiving. It’s always the first thing I like to eat after daddy says the prayer. It’s yummy!

Child #1: But what’s in it?

Mom: Patience, mostly. Also there is a lot of tenderness, hope, and joy mixed in.

Child #1: I like those things.

Child #2: Hey, is it a holiday or something? Why are we having Love tonight?

Mom: (laughing) I serve it every night. Sometimes I slip it in the green beans or behind the cauliflower’s ear. Other times it is in our chocolate cake we have for dessert or in your glass of milk. It’s always there. Sometimes, it seems we don’t notice the love that is sitting on the plate right in front of us.

Child #3: I think it tastes best mixed with chocolate.

Child #1: I think it tastes best when it is warm. Can I have some more?

Mom: Sure. There’s plenty. (she scoops more onto everyone’s plates)