#100 Enjoy every sandwich

Storytelling is one of my obsessions. It’s just in my genes. I have not watched TED Talks, taken online courses nor read books to keep it alive. Instead, I just listen to Mike Birbiglia. He is a comedian, not the typical one, who prepares funny, deep one-man shows about real stuff. I found his latest show “The Old Man and The Pool” last night so had to watch it immediately.

Janne and I shared a few little pleasures in our everyday life. Storytelling was not one of them as Janne would doze off when I would be telling her the same story for the 17th time. However, we did spend a lot of time together doing what we liked: watching new movies, drinking our favorite wine, walking through our surrounding forests, having those cortados.

Our weak spot was food. We were eager to try new places or new recipes. She would decide on the spot that she was going to bake some soda bread in the same way as that good Irish friend taught her. Sometimes, we had guests in the house and she felt like just coming up with a new desert on the spot. Her out-of-the-blue Pavlova was magnificent.

When traveling, we never flocked to the big touristy attractions. We went instead looking for different foods. That Thai restaurant we tried in London was unforgettable. My personal favorite was the warm duck salad we had in Manchester in 2007. The street kebab in Berlin after buying our wedding rings was perfect. It wasn’t only about the food, but about our moment together.

Mike Birbiglia gets to a point in his show where he mentions Warren Zevon. He was a well-known musician who was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. David Letterman, the best friend his music ever had, dedicated a program to him while he was still here. Letterman asks him, “from your perspective now, do you know something about life and death that maybe I don’t know now?”. Zevon answers, “not unless I know how much you’re supposed to enjoy every sandwich, you know”.

Birbiglia concludes in his show talking about an old man, how we’d be lucky to be him, but that we don’t know for sure. He just adds, “all we’re promised is this moment right now”.

Janne enjoyed every sandwich. While I’m still here, I’ll continue to do the same.