The Green Bean Thing....

I have a thing about green beans. I have such wonderful memories of setting on the front porch with Mom and sometimes my Mamaw Eden stringing beans. There was just something fun about sitting around listening to them talk while I had my own little bowl of beans to string and pop. I just loved the snap-snap-snap of breaking the beans in smaller pieces.

When Allen would buy beans, I always take them to the front porch to string them. He would come out there and help me and we would sit and talk about our day and our plans. I don't know what it is about stringing beans that makes me so relaxed, but it does. 

Do you want to know what the funny thing is about my love for stringing beans? It's the fact that I despise green beans. I cannot stand them and wouldn't eat one bean if you paid me too. My hate for green beans is 100% psychological and I know that but I still will not eat a bean.

As Mom tells the story, I was about four years old and up until that time I loved green beans. I ate them all the time. One day, I had just gotten over the flu and was just starting to get my appetite back. So Mom made some green beans. Apparently I was just pushing my food around on my plate and Mom told me to eat my green beans. And my Daddy, who I loved more than I did the green beans, said "Don't make her eat them if she doesn't want them. I don't blame her I never did like green beans." She said I pushed my little plate away and said "I don't like them either." and that was that. She never could get me to eat green beans again. 

(Me & my Daddy when I was 2)

When I was pregnant, I knew I had to eat healthier so I decided it was time to go back to visit my like or dislike of green beans. Made them just like Mom did cooked slowly with a little bacon grease thrown in. And whoever said anything is better with bacon flavoring lied. The first green bean never even made it past my lips. The moment my lips touched the green bean and I could get just a small flavoring of it, I bolted off the couch and threw them out. Nope. Wasn't going to happen. I was not going to eat that nasty thing.

So here I sit today. I am 59 years old and will come visit on your porch and string all the beans you want me to. But invite me over for dinner and a "mess of green beans" and I will politely decline.