the stuff of legend

Someone I used to work with that I haven't spoken to in over a year e-mailed me the other day and told me that she was telling some new friends a story I had told her about Jude cooking for me when these people stopped her and told her that they had heard this story before from someone else! These are people who don't know me or Jude, but apparently this story has been making its rounds. I have a number of friends who tell me that they use it as one of their go-to stories to tell people. I guess it's one of mine, too, so here it goes:

When we were still living in Los Angeles but knew we were moving to NYC soon, Jude abruptly quit his job early and spontaneously made flight reservations to go to Mexico for a month by himself to travel around and explore markets and regional foods and flavors across the country. When he told me that he was doing this and leaving in a few days, I was excited for him but also gasped: "What am I going to eat?!" He told me had it "under control," and not to worry.

The next day, I came home from work to find that he had turned our whole kitchen and living room into a one-man assembly line. He had brought home 30+ small containers that are freezer- and microwave-safe and had the oven and stove going with chickens, big pots of pastas, rice pilaf, vegetable sides, etc. He then proceeded to fill all of the containers with individual meals that included one main course and two sides each for every day that he was going to be gone and filled our freezer with them!

I write this story here because I think this about sums up why Jude is so incredible and why I am so lucky.