“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”
– Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations
One of my favorite blogs is Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton. HONY has over twenty million followers on social media. The project started eight years ago when Brandon photographed people along the streets of New York. On his posts he added quotes and stories that people shared with him. Now his project is worldwide.
There’s one story that touched me deeply. I read it years ago so I don’t remember it exactly. But in the photo is an elderly woman and her daughter. The daughter said her mother was ready to die, but when she called her that morning her mother said she’d just eaten the perfect pear and decided to stay around for another day.
Our job is to find something each day, no matter how big or how infinitesimal, that makes life worth living. I love cooking, writing and travel, I worked in restaurants and I’m from New York. Anthony Bourdain was my age, he spoke in a way I understood, and he broke all the rules. I’m sorry he didn’t eat a perfect pear that day in France, a pear that would’ve reminded him life is worth living.
Rest in peace in parts unknown Anthony. I hope you’re in a place where perfectly ripe pears are hanging heavy off the tree ready for the picking.
