Albert didn’t just like to cook. He loved it. In fact, when Albert woke up each day, he sat in bed and thought about the recipes that he would make for dinner that night.
04.26.2021
In this illustration, Albert doesn’t even get out of bed before he starts thinking of what he loves to do most. I had the chance to witness a similar experience not too long ago when one of my brothers and I went backpack camping for a night. We had gone to Ha Ha Tonka State Park and had hiked about 5 miles to a very sweet site that is surrounded on three sides by a bow in a little stream and on the fourth side by a low bluff face. A mix of evergreen and deciduous trees hem in the camp so that you’re allowed a great sense of privacy. It is a lovely place to be.
We had had a great evening the night before. We set up camp and cooked our dinner, and sat talking for a long while before getting into our respective hammocks to pass the night. I woke up early the next morning and made coffee while my brother slept in. He’s not particularly a morning person. I have many memories of him trundling out into the living room or kitchen with a look of disorientation on his face.He is also not quick to verbal communication in that first part of the day.
I was sitting with my coffee and he hadn’t yet stirred that morning. In the distance, I could hear a turkey gobbling. This went on for about five minutes, and then from my brother’s hammock came the rough, high-pitched sound of a turkey hen. No, a female turkey had not roosted with my brother in his sleeping bag. My brother, who is a committed hunter, had woken, heard the gobbles and had decided to respond with a lady turkey call. I made some joke about how all the other turkeys had already gotten out of bed, but I got no response back from the shadowed area of his hammock. A few seconds more went by, and then he let out another screeching turkey call. It was several more minutes before he emerged from his bed, and probably a few more before he was ready to communicate in human language, but I think it’s amazing that as slow as he is to get going in the morning, his love of hunting and calling turkeys had him ready to go even before climbing out of his sleeping bag that morning. Similarly, Albert is focused on his passion as he first wakes up, though he has different turkey thoughts on his mind.
