One sunny summer day, Maria and her daughter Sofia decided to take a leisurely stroll through the fields near their small town. While wandering around, they came across a small tree that immediately caught Maria’s eye. Curious, she took a closer look and was surprised to see that it was covered with tiny white fruits that she did not recognize.
At first Maria thought the fruits were bird eggs or something similar. But upon closer inspection she realized that they were actually white eggplants. Sofia was fascinated by the unusual sight and begged her mother to select some and try to cook with them.
Although Maria was hesitant to use the white eggplants as she wasn’t sure how to prepare them, Sofia’s enthusiasm convinced her to give it a try. She picked a few and brought them home.
Upon her return, Maria devoted herself to cooking and searched online for the best way to use the eggplants. She settled on a classic Italian dish: eggplant parmesan, a recipe she had always loved.
Maria sliced the eggplant thinly and fried it until golden brown, then covered it in rich tomato sauce and melted mozzarella cheese before baking the dish to perfection. When it was ready, she and Sofia enjoyed the meal together.
To Maria’s delight, the eggplant parmesan turned out to be exceptionally delicious. The eggplants were tender and flavorful and paired perfectly with the spicy tomato sauce and gooey cheese.
From then on, Maria made it a summer tradition to visit the field and check on the white eggplant tree. Every year the tree was there, producing its unique fruit. Maria would gather a few eggplants and use them to make her beloved eggplant parmesan, a dish that had become a family favorite.
The discovery of the white eggplant tree not only led Maria and Sofia to a new culinary adventure, but also reminded them that amazing finds can sometimes come from the most unexpected places.
Mary Lou Retton Has Pneumonia and ‘Is Fighting for Her Life,’ Daughter Says
The gymnastics champion sprang to stardom at the 1984 Olympics, where she became the first American woman to win a gold medal in the all-around competition. Her family is raising money online, saying she lacks health insurance.
May Lou Retton at the 1984 Olympics, where she won five medals.
Mary Lou Retton, who became one of the most popular athletes in the country after winning the all-around women’s gymnastics competition at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, has pneumonia and is “fighting for her life” in the intensive care unit, her daughter said in a statement this week.
Retton’s daughter McKenna Lane Kelley said on Instagram that her mother “is not able to breathe on her own” and that she had been in the intensive care unit for more than a week.
Kelley asked for donations to help pay for her mother’s hospital bills, saying her mother lacked health insurance. By Wednesday, she had raised more than $260,000 online from more than 4,600 donors.
She did not share more specific information about her mother’s condition, though she said that her pneumonia was “a very rare form.” It was not clear what hospital Retton was in.
Kelley, who was a gymnast at Louisiana State University, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, another daughter, Shayla Kelley Schrepfer, released a video on Instagram thanking people for “all the love and support that you’ve given to my mom.”
“She’s still fighting,” Schrepfer said. “It’s going to be a day-by-day process, and we hope that you guys will respect her boundaries, as we want to keep the details between her and our family right now. She has been treated with the best of the best professionals here, and it has been such a blessing to have their hands on her.”
At the 1984 Olympics, Retton became the first American woman to win the all-around gold medal or any individual Olympic medal in gymnastics. Going into the final rotation of the competition, she was five-hundredths of a point behind Romania’s Ecaterina Szabo, and the only way she could beat Szabo was to score a perfect 10 on vault.
Retton scored a perfect 10.
She won five medals in Los Angeles, including two silvers, for team and vault, and two bronzes, for uneven bars and floor exercise.
Though there was an asterisk by Retton’s victory in the history books — the Soviet Union, which was the most dominant force in women’s gymnastics at the time, boycotted the 1984 Games — it nonetheless made her a sports hero in the United States. In addition to earning her the traditional trappings of Olympic gold, like appearing on a Wheaties box, she was widely viewed as an inspiration to a new generation of American girls entering gymnastics.
Even as the American gymnastics program grew and the country won more medals, including the team gold in 1996, Retton’s prominence remained: For 20 years, Retton, now 55, was the only American woman to win the all-around title, until Carly Patterson became the second in 2004.
Retton was born in Fairmont, W.Va., and got her start early, like many top gymnasts. By the time Retton was 7 years old, she was training in gymnastics full-time.
Retton’s talent had been apparent from the start, but a big break came at an Olympics elimination tournament in Reno, Nev., in 1982, where she impressed Bela Karolyi, who would go on to coach her in the 1984 Olympics.
“I immediately recognized the tremendous physical potential of this little kid,” Karolyi said in a March 1984 interview.
Retton appeared in a number of films and TV shows in the late 1980s and 1990s, including the comedy film “Scrooged.”
After her athletic career, Retton became a motivational speaker to promote the benefits of proper nutrition and regular exercise.
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