Dear friend,
In America I believe, jam is called jelly.
In the UK jelly is a pudding. It wobbles on your plate and usually tastes vaguely of fruit.
What’s the name for that in America?
For years it remained unclear what peanut butter and jelly on toast was.
Now I know it’s delicious because I’ve tasted it.
I could’ve looked it up online but I prefer to ask people for information more than going online.
When we’re in a town we don’t know, Chiara is quick with the phone search, and that often works out well enough, but I do like playing the bewildered English dude. When you meet a kind person you remember it and it becomes part of your story.
Like ‘Captain Bucharest’.
An elderly gentleman wearing a sailors cap who befriended us on our visit to the Romanian Capitol. He had a game leg and walked with a stick, carrying two plastic bags of shopping, he insisted on guiding us personally to the train station.
He rode the tube with us all the way to our stop. It wasn’t on his way.
I sensed it was a pleasure for him to use his command of English and I longed to know more about his life, but it was impossible to get a word in edgeways as he led us at a cracking pace through the bustling city, pointing out pickpockets and thieves as he went.
“Not everyone is as nice as me,” he warned us.
He stood and waved us off and we both wanted to take him with us.
I imagine him with a small white dog, but can’t be certain I’m not making that up, mixing the memory with the white dog we met in the mountains and Captain Haddock from the Tin Tin comics.
Who we think we are.
It’s a fabricated self, patched together out of memories and attachments.
As if we were actors who’ve been on the stage so long we’ve forgotten that we’re playing roles.
We think we are our physical form, our memories, our mind our thoughts.
But we’re not these transitory things.
We’re something else.
Remembering our eternal divine nature is the function of spiritual practice.
The why of it.
Experiencing it.
While we’re still on stage.
Forgiveness, kindness and compassion.
Stillness.
Gratitude.
Thankfulness.
Utterly refusing to judge another for their mistakes.
Kind to ourselves for our own.
A daily commitment.
To live in the present.
Through and the sweet and the bitter.
We discover peace within.
Till tomorrow
Love
Mikey
In the US both “jam” and “jelly” exist. Jam is made from crushed whole fruit. Jelly is made from fruit juice. Jelly is translucent, jam isn’t.
I think we’d call what you call “jelly” the brand name “Jell-O” which we basically use to refer to all types of gelatin.