Monday Mourning
- Anya Pandit
- Sep 7, 2020
- 6 min read
It is a typical Monday morning, or “mourning” as someone once told me. There’s that sudden burst of energy and productivity that follows the lull and quiet from the weekend. But that brief spark dissipates inevitably, around an hour…maybe two hours after you’ve been at your desk. You have no immediate work…you’re waiting on responses necessary for you to proceed…your colleagues are on their own schedules and are scrambling to set up their online meetings - even two days out of the office makes you forget the littlest things…and this is what fills up every Monday mourning…a few extra minutes spent on finding that presentation from Friday…a technical hiccup when you forget to mute yourself on the Zoom call…momentary amnesia when remembering your login information…but these tasks do help make the time go just a bit faster.
During these mundane moments is when your mind starts to wander. Or at least mine does. As labor day weekend concludes in the United States, I can’t help but think how that weekend had been spent for the past four years. It indicates the start of a new school year. My family and I would arrive in Boston, perhaps the Thursday or Friday before Labor Day, and would spend the weekend moving me into my dorm. Oh the memories filled with sweat, aching muscles, curses directed at UPS, pitiful exchanges with other families moving their children in, the chaos of unpacking my three very large and very heavy suitcases, the hugs from seeing my friends, my mother furiously scrubbing the frame of the Twin XL bed with Clorox wipes, Papa and I dragging the worn-out yellow moving carts across the carpeted floor of the corridors…
I’m nostalgic from these thoughts, and it has certainly been a mushy Monday mourning, if you couldn’t tell. I start to think about everything that I am missing, and write a list.
Note: This was a terrible idea and I am even more emotional now and have eaten all of the snacks that were meant to last me till 5:30 PM at 10:43 AM.
Things I Miss:
Tatte (the absolute, most wonderful cafe)
Apple Crisp (BU Dining has certainly perfected this)
Boom Chika Pop - Kettle Corn (the one in the lavender packaging)
Gatorade Zero - Grape
Whipped Cream (Reddi-Whip, obviously)
French Vanilla Flavor
Any cookie from Trader Joe’s (the small ones in the round plastic boxes)
Grapes (Red grapes, not green)
Wheat Thins - Reduced Fat (must be had with Tostito’s Chunky Salsa - Medium)
Oreo Thins (Mint flavor recommended, original will suffice as well)
Vitamin Water Zero (I like strawberry lemonade)
Eggs (Egg white OR soft whole egg scramble, but SOFT)
Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Biscotti (’tis the season)
Alright, yes this looks like a grocery list. I noticed that as well, which got me wondering, why do I miss certain foods the most? Was I just hungry, is that it? My stomach violently disagrees as it begins to digest the apple slices, goldfish crackers, baby carrots and vanilla yogurt I had just inhaled prematurely. I miss certain foods because I associate that type of food with how one of my friendships was formed and strengthened…it reminds me of a specific memory…or even a period of time…I associate that food with a feeling that would arise when having it…
Difficult to explain, I know.
Here’s an example.
Gatorade Zero reminds me of the long hours spent on the second floor study lounge of 33 Harry Agganis Way. It was absolutely necessary to have a bottle before starting to study for an exam. Hydration is key, always. I would buy two 32 fl oz bottles at a time, and keep one at my desk, one in my room for the next day.
A can of whipped cream was always found on the shelf in the fridge in our apartment. It was used every time someone - me - walked by the fridge, and was required for our weekend brunches to be used on our pancakes made from Buttermilk Kodiak Cake Mix, which were served with sliced strawberries, honey and Aunt Jemina’s Original Syrup.
Grapes, Boom Chika Pop, Wheat Thins, and Oreo Thins were staple snacks that we served when our friends would come over. Wine was sometimes provided. Tea was always provided. Music was provided by whichever playlist I had made that month. None of our close friends lived in our building, and they would make the trek all the way over to Apartment 1103, where they were greeted with these snacks, my choice of music, our sparsely decorated living room, and of course - the company of Elizabeth and me. From junior fall till senior spring, jokes were exchanged at each others’ expense, boyfriends were introduced, rants were heard, motivational pep talks were given, and FEW complaints about my song choices were endured.
Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Biscotti. Every October, Elizabeth’s mom would send a care package filled with all of the fall-themed seasonal foods from Trader Joe’s. We would subsequently hold a Halloween party, kindly sponsored by the snacks given by Elizabeth’s mom, and enjoy the leaf-shaped tortilla chips dipped in the fall harvest salsa, munch on the Halloween edition of Joe Joe’s, and drink copious amounts of apple cider hand-carried with love from Long Island. The pumpkin biscotti hold a dear place in my heart. I did not try them during our fall 2018 snack soirée, and instead tried them a few months later in December, at 2 AM, after failing to find any other snacks in our cupboards, following a stressful evening studying for final exams. There remained around six pieces of biscotti in the box that was tucked away in the back of our cupboard. And I thank God and Elizabeth’s mother for those glorious biscuits as they provided the comfort I so desperately needed that night. The following year in 2019, Elizabeth kept the box of biscotti found in her mother’s care package of 2019 for me to enjoy. On my own. Not to be shared at the fall party of 2019.
Eggs. Yes, I miss eggs. I miss going to brunch with my best friends every weekend. I miss my standard order of an egg white omelette with whole-wheat toast, home fries and of course something sweet in the middle to share between all of us. Brunches where we would get dressed up, gossip about the past week and just enjoy each other’s company over multiple cups of coffee.
Vitamin Water Zero signifies a health change from when I switched from sucralose and aspartame sweetened beverages to ones sweetened with stevia.
French Vanilla…There’s this ice cream I had from Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream in New York City and it was a burnt honey vanilla. The memory of having that ice cream, along with the company I was with, enjoying a beautiful spring day in New York..brings a smile to my face always. There was a French Vanilla Cappuccino available in the dining hall coffee machine, and thankfully I discovered the joys of this beverage well into my senior year because my oh my would I have abused that religiously early on as a freshman and sophomore. Elizabeth always told me she loved dining hall coffee, and I could never understand her adoration for it. Little did I know that she actually meant the French Vanilla Cappuccino, and not the standard brewed coffee. She introduced me to the joys of having a vanilla latte at Dunkin’ and Starbucks later on as well. French Vanilla is a flavor that I associate with fond memories that never cease to bring a warmth to my chest.
Do you see why my list is the way it is? Yes, of course, food is very important to me. But why is it so important? It is because food is how I have always known my relationships and friendships to have formed, developed, and strengthened. There is more to food than just the taste. There are the moments of where I was while eating that food, the emotion I was feeling, the person I shared the food with, the conversations that happened between bites…If only these memories were as easily relived as buying some of these foods are.
That being said, I would highly benefit if Gatorade, Vitamin Water, Trader Joe’s and Boston University Dining were to make their products accessible in Singapore. Please consider.
Ah! Finally got a reply to that email I was waiting for. Back to work. It is Monday after all.
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