**(I actually wrote this blog back in October sometime…but recently this store was robbed at gunpoint. I hope to pop in and see how the ladies are doing — but if you’re in the neighborhood of Old Hickory and Nolensville in Nashville, stop into the African Latino grocery next to the Lowes, and say hello)…**
So I’ve made the move to Nashville. The allure of cheap rent with fun people has drawn me in. I’ve spent a good amount of time here over the years, and I have to admit, the city is growing on me.
One of my big fears, though, was losing ethnic food. Having spent the past 15+years in Chicago, New York and LA, I’ve become a big fan of the neighborhoods where little to no English is spoken.
Until I discovered a magical place called “Nolensville Road” where apparently all nationalities live and work and eat and hang out together. When I drove by a gas station at 3am that had a little taco stand all lit up with Christmas Lights called “El Tapatio III”, I knew I had new hope for dining in Nashville. Granted, the girls I live with are not as convinced that eating from a “roach coach” is a good idea. But they are slowly warming to the idea, and if nothing else are starting to eat better Mexican food.
Which brings me to today.
I wandered into the African Latino Grocery in search of nothing in particular. Just excited at the prospect of white melty un-pasteurized cheeses and maybe a goat head or two.
But what I found was love.
Fidelis and Edith are the proprietors of the store, where community and family are as important as stocking the shelves. I was greeted by Edith when I walked in the door. She jumped from her seat in the back of the store with shouts of “Welcome! Welcome!” Perhaps the stunned look on my face gave me away – I’m not used to making such a grand entry – at least not when I’m going out for groceries. She asked my name and gave me a big hug. “Do you know African food?”
For the next hour, I got to see into the lives of Fidelis, Edith and little Angel. It was a conversation all based in faith and wisdom. “God brings people to my store, no matter what stores are around it. I know where my help comes from,” Fidelis explains, her words punctuated with a thick Nigerian accent. Her tightly curled hair bouncing like springs as she goes on and on, “My job is to be here and let people know how good – how GOOD the Lord is.”
They gave me some delicious pastries with a ground turkey and vegetable interior. “Our bodies are made by our God and we need to take care of them by eating foods that are real,” Fidelis insists. We chatted about them setting up some cooking classes, laughed and talked about home. And as I was thinking I was finally going to leave with my coconut milk and cheerios… Fidelis said, “First you must dance.”
Now, I’m a white girl made up of Lithuanian, German and British blood. None of those are really known for their dancing abilities.
The Nigerian music started infiltrating the store, louder and louder over the speakers. Angel is jumping up and down as Fidelis yells at Edith to come and dance. She promises to come and join. And in the front of the miniature grocery, the three-some began joyously dancing – completely uninhibited.
When they danced, their shoulders almost sank to the ground. They waved back and forth with a strange primal grace that was so comfortable and natural and strangely human. Their backs slumped a bit and arms swayed. It was beautiful.
I laughed at my obvious lack of dancing style when Edith just said “You lose yourself when you dance. Stop holding onto you – this is praise music. We’re in church.”
And I got it.
The difference between these women and people like me – the typical God-fearing suburban American Christian – is that we hold on to us. These women had no inhibition. No worries of who might walk in. No second thoughts that you’re not supposed to dance and worship God in a grocery store. But what I really saw was their shoulders. When they danced, their shoulders muscles were down, relaxed, with terrible posture. But that’s the posture of having no weight on your shoulders…at all. The yoke is easy and the burden is light. They let go of any trial, tribulation or personal hang-up to just give it to God. And dance.
And dance in the middle of African Latino Grocery on the corner of Old Hickory and Nolensville Road. If you’re in Nashville, please stop in and get some love from Fidelis and Edith. You might just forget you’re not supposed to find Jesus while you’re buying groceries.
