There is always more to the story (Behind the scenes)...

     
      So, I'm trying to recount all the dinner memories that really meant more than just eating and this is not just about dinner; this could just be a walk in the park or a hug I gave to my friend the other day. Who knows? There is always more to the story; I found it especially interesting when Foster expressed the fact that most of the time "a meal is not just a meal", because I have never really thought about diner in that instance. Usually when I come to eat with my friends, all I am thinking about is filling my ravenous stomach full of the mediocre lunch that I have to eat (might go starving without it). IF I delve deeper, including the people I choose to sit with and the place I sit with them , lots of times, that has made my lunch experiences  more enjoyable.
    Lets go behind the scenes, shall we? I first present to you my beautiful brown bag lunch filled with two pieces of golden fried chicken from Grandy's (not to mention one of their dinner rolls and a small tub of green beans). Now, I am very fickle about who I eat lunch around, especially when I am dealing with fried chicken, just because I love to eat it right (licking fingers and all) ; I desire to sit around someone who doesn't mind all this and perhaps enjoys the intake of fried chicken exactly how I do, just like the communion in the eating scene of the novel Tom Jones (1749), that Foster includes. There you have it; I can totally relate, although my intake does not have any sexual meaning to it. It is just merely the fact that I like to eat comfortably with people who feel the same was I do and I think my experience ties in with Foster's descriptions just fine.
     Moreover, it was significant when Foster presents the act of communion by saying " I'm with you, I like you, we form a communion together". I can't help to think of the group of friends who I sit with every single day and how it makes my experience more enjoyable. Not only this but just like the man in the story Cathedral (1981), I have made a few friends out of people I had dis liked being that the ones that were making my experience enjoyable were present. We all connect in those very moments of in-taking our food because in reality, little do we tend to realize is that everyone living creature on this planet has one similarity out of a few: eating. It seems like that is what keep us connected. I begin to think, " Why is there something like a table created? Well, reflecting on Foster's views on the communion experience, being able to sit next to someone and chew our chops out at the table, which is the main item that contributes to this moment, says a whole lot, don't you think?
     Therefore, when the word "communion" was mentioned in many ways, I couldn't help to think of Jesus  and his 12 disciples, the breaking of the bread, and the passing of the wine all before the day he was to die. This to me was a perfect example of Foster's take of "a communion, not of death, but of life" ( Joyce's meal) and also the factor of the plethora of ways communion is interpreted. Jesus didn't just have  a meal with anyone  the day before he died, but it was with the people that he loved the most that were there for him, that witnessed his every miracle he performed, and that could always claim that he was the Son of God. That in itself goes to show that it wasn't just a dinner or to be correct, The Passover. There were so many details incorporated with that moment and I feel like this example was a perfect representation of dinner being something more.
    In continuum, with all this being said, I will forevermore analyze my lunches and dinners in the way that Foster has helped me recognize; that might be tomorrow  or perhaps Thanksgiving, another dinner that means more that just eating, but the act of being Thankful for everything and the people you share your life with. Next time, I will be more aware of that.

Arlesia McGowan