DAY 503 Roasted Mouse, Anyone?

Hi Journal & Friends,

First, thank you for the nice comments from yesterday's grumpy post. My hand is much better now. No more throbbing...unless I am careless and bump it! Another round of general antibiotics, while waiting for the results of the culture, so we can specifically target these little resistant buggers!!

On with today's thoughts (it doesn't hurt to type now... yippee).

Last April, shortly after losing our 16 year old Dusty, I wrote a post called Things I Learned From a Cat (here).  Dusty was special, and had her own way of communicating with me.

Well, on Christmas day it seems my two current furbabies, Butterfly and Vevie (rhymes with Stevie), had another thing to teach me.

This Christmas day was the first time in many years that Jim actually had off work. And I was so not used to it, it didn't even occur to me to plan a special meal. I just spaced it! 

So there we were, Christmas Eve, and it finally dawned on me that it's not the usual, just me eating left-overs. Jim would be here! 

What to cook?? What's in the fridge? Anything in the freezer I can thaw? Eek! All the grocery stores were closed, and I wasn't sure which might be open on Christmas day.

Oh sure, there was a lot of food in the house. The "usual" stuff. But... it wasn't right. It wasn't special. It just wasn't "Christmas-y". 

Huh??

So it got me thinking... why was I all in a dither over what I was going to fix?? 

Then I looked at Butterfly and Vevie. They were not fussing over their "special" Christmas meal. To them, it was just another day, just another meal. A little kitty chow, and we're good to go. They weren't throwing a hissy fit because they didn't get Roasted Mouse for Christmas.

And I realized that for me it wasn't about the food itself. We decided to try to find a store open and buy ribs to make BBQ spare ribs for our special Christmas day meal. But why?? Cuz I was lusting for BBQ ribs??

And I was kind of happy to realize that no, it really wasn't about the food--for once! It was about tradition.

All growing up, my Mom would cook a special meal for Christmas. Something we didn't have all the time. Well, with 4 kids to feed on a blue collar workers salary, lets face it... ya don't have prime rib every week! And she would make something special to go with it, like yummy side dishes, and Indian Pudding or homebaked pie for dessert.

The point is... it was special. And I realized THAT was what I was longing for. Not the food itself... but the feeling of "special". Of tradition. Of nice memories. Of nostalgia.

So yes, after we played Santa and enjoyed visiting my sister and my nieces, we discovered an open store and found sugar-free punky pie and spare ribs. 

We rented a cool movie from Blockbuster, Inception, and had our traditional "special" meal after all. 

It was nice... a "normal" feeling, that it was not about the food. It was about tradition and memories and all that.

So thank you, Butterfly and Vevie, for reminding me what's really important. 

From Dr Phil's book: "You now have a concrete plan of action in place for living a healthier, richer, and fuller life. When it comes to managing your weight for a lifetime, make use of everything you've been given..."

My verse for today: "Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light."

My quote for today: "If you don't see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner." --Zig Ziglar

Enjoy the Journey,

Loretta

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