Antoinette’s Bread

Antoinette lived in the Italian section of town. The family was well known due to a lot of community involvement. And every month, everyone in the neighborhood had anticipation of the “delivery.”

You see, Antoinette was my grandmother, and every month she would elicit me to help her bake 30–40 loaves of bread, from her old oven in the basement. Then, after the bread cooled, it was my job to deliver throughout the neighborhood and receive all the smiles and compliments for my grandmother.

Not only did she do this, but every time she harvested her garden (which took up her entire back yard), she did the same thing—shared everything just to help out. Her empathy even included the neighborhood beat cop: a loaf of bread and the sweetest tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers, impeccably grown. And smiles. When I think back to those days, I smile, because it was such a good feeling to make someone happy even for a short amount of time.