Remembering Heroes

Source - Google Images

Time To Spill It ~ Life, Passion and Food

Ahhh... sailboats moored at sunset. Looks peaceful, doesn't it?

No... We didn't buy a new boat. Hell, we don't even have an old boat. So. Why the picture? Well, I guess I'm just doing a bit of wishful thinking. It was a really long Winter and I can't remember a time in all of my life when I was this happy to see a new season on the horizon. I realize that Spring has sprung for some regions of the country, but at the moment, my neck of the woods has been doing a cruel, flip-flopping dance between late winter and early Spring. Last Tuesday, the temperature topped out at 80 degrees. On Thursday, the thermostat never crept over 48. Today's forecast says it's supposed to reach the mid to high 70's. The last time (about an hour ago) that I looked at the thermometer, it was 64. But, that's enough about the weather...

Earlier this morning, I was looking at some of the "discussion" posts on a LinkedIn group that I belong to  and someone had asked the question: "Do you consider yourself a foodie?" (It's a group for foodies, of course) So, I  took a gander at a few of the replies and it got me thinking about my own obsession with food and why so much of my life is centered around it.  Let's see....

I love going out for dinner.
And lunch.
And breakfast.
And dessert.
I cook.
A lot.
I host (and cook for) the majority of my family's holiday celebrations and special occasions.
I collect cookbooks.
And I read them like most people read novels.
I have cupboards and drawers and shelves and boxes, filled with pots, pans, utensils, gadgets, table linens, dishes and serving pieces.
I get more excited about grocery shopping, than I do about clothes or shoe or chotchki shopping. (and I really love to shop for clothes and shoes and chotchkies)
I talk (a lot) about food.
My food board on Pinterest has 10 times more pins than any other 10 boards, combined.
I blog about food.

Hmmmm...

Yeah... it's a little cluttered, but it works for me. :~)

How long has food been an obsession a passion for me?

Well... there was a time in my life when I had planned to become a professional chef. I was 16 years old and a junior in high school; and like most teenagers, I was absolutely, positively and unequivocally sure, that I had it all figured out. My parents were behind the idea 100%... for about a minute. Then, (insert sounds of screeching breaks here) common sense, aka fear, took over and they decided that life as a "cook" was not at all what they'd envisioned for their daughter. Nope. Absolutely, positively, unequivocally, N.O. (insert visual of deflating balloon here)

Source: Google Images

So, life went on. Time went by. I started a career, got married and had babies. Not necessarily in that particular order, but these were all things that my parents had envisioned for me.

All in all, it's been a damned good life, so far. Of course, there have been difficult times, too. Roads to cross. Tough decisions to make. Tears have been shed. Many tears. But, that is what life is. For all of us. We all experience the same duality in our lives. Good and not so good. (I don't really care for the "b" word) Positive and negative. Yin and yang.

There have been people sharing this journey with me. Good people, who've brought light into dark days, comfort when there's been pain, strength to a fearful heart and hope to a grieving soul. Loving people, who have fed my spirit. And isn't that the kind of food that matters most of all?

So, yeah... I'm definitely a foodie.

How about you... Are you a foodie too?

Valentine's Day Edition STMUSS

It's time for another Songs That Make Us Sing Saturday!

So... This is the Valentine's Day edition of STMUSS and I didn't have to think more than a nanosecond about what I wanted to post this week.

Source

I have to preface this video by admitting that I've never seen any of the Twilight movies. OK. OK. Please don't throw rotten veggies or anything else horrid at me.  I just got the cat fur and fingerprints cleaned off the screen. I have nothing against Edward and Bella (is that right?) or the whole Twilapalooza thing happening all over the universe. I just never got around to watching the first one and then I didn't want to see the second before the first and.... well, I just didn't. Sorry.

Anyway... If you're still here and haven't unfollowed me on every possible social networking site, I'll just explain why I had to pick this song for Valentine's week. It's Christina Perri. And the words that she and David Hodges pulled out of my soul and put to music.

I'm probably gonna hate myself for spilling this, but last weekend when Hubbs and I were out for a mid-winter, sunny day, need to get the he!! out of the house drive, this song came on the radio. And... well... I looked over at his beautiful face with the dimples and the cleft chin that I see in my dreams at least twice a week and I started bawling like a baby. Yup. Mascara running, nose running, ugly cry kind of blubbering.  What can I say?  I just love the guy more than life itself and after almost 30 years, I still haven't figured out what I ever did right enough to deserve him loving me back.

So. Enough of my ridonculous simpering. Here it is. (Oh, and join the dang party, K?  It's a blast every week and you have no idea what you're missing.)




Here's the link. You know what to do.

Click HERE or HERE to join the fun!

Yup.... That's him.

A Gift Of The Heart

Howdy Everyone!

It's the new year and as most of us are fond of doing around this time, I've been reflecting on the past 12 months and pondering the year ahead.

But enough about reflection, for now. What I really wanted to do, was show you and tell you about the most special gift that I received this Christmas. Don't get me wrong...  I really love everything that I received, but there is one gift that stands out among the rest - and in the spirit of full disclosure, made me cry.  They were familiar tears, but more than anything else, they were a pure manifestation of the deepest love I have in my heart. A mother's love.  I honestly felt like my heart would bust wide open.

Our grown daughter is the light of our lives. She's beautiful and she's smart, but what makes her so incredibly special, is her heart. She possesses an infinite capacity for love, compassion and empathy. When she was just a tiny wisp of a girl, she would beg me to stop the car whenever we would pass someone along the street who was elderly or looked a bit disheveled. For some reason, she always assumed that these folks were all alone in the world and she insisted that we take them home with us, where they'd be safe and warm and we could take care of them. It usually took the rest of the day, to convince her that they'd be OK.

Although I thanked her later when she called on Christmas morning and even admitted that it made me cry, I don't know if she had any idea how deeply her gift impacted me. I won't go into all of the detail right now, but it's something she made for me as a kind of remembrance of her little sister, who we lost eleven years ago.

You see, her father and I spent an awful lot of time away from home during the time that our youngest was fighting for her life. We thought constantly about our first born during that time, but the hospital was over an hour away from our home and during the few hours a day that we weren't at the hospital, we pretty much moved in with a family member who lived close by, while she stayed with friends and family back home.

She was sixteen at the time and very much in her own world of hormones and teenage angst, and no matter how many times I asked if she wanted to talk about it with me or her dad, or anyone at all, the reply was always the same. "No, mom. I'm fine. I talk to my friends." We spoke on the phone every day that we couldn't spend with her and she came down with family members when she could, but it was incredibly hard on all of us. I can't even begin to tell you how it can tear you up inside when you are faced with spending all of your time and energy focusing on the needs of one of your children, while the other needs you just as much.

She still keeps her feelings very guarded. As much as I wish she would share her innermost thoughts with me, we all have our own way of coping and moving forward... and I respect that. What keeps me from worrying too much about her, is that I know that she always finds a way to express the things she feels. This time, it was through her beautiful handmade gift.

When I unwrapped the package, the first thing that I saw were the blue letters, printed in her own hand. As I tore the paper away further, I saw one and then another brightly colored leaf, lovingly and carefully applied to the branches of the tree. I knew the words without looking at them. I'd read them, over and over again, day after day, night after night, sitting in a dimly lit hospital room.

But I still felt the need to read them out loud. So, I cleared my throat and began. I read the familiar words, as my husband sat and listened while I struggled to get the words out. Without lifting my head from the frame in my hands, I knew that his eyes were filling up with the same salty, stinging tears that were threatening to spill out of my own.

Like most parents, we always wondered if we were saying and doing the right things. Did we listen well enough or push hard enough when it mattered?  Should we have done things differently?  Did anything we said or did right, sink in when it was supposed to?

I have my answer when I see this beautiful child who is now an incredible young woman;  No, we may not have always done or said exactly the right thing. Yes, we've made our share of mistakes along the way. But we've loved our children with all that we have inside of us and we did the very best that we knew how to do.

And in this crazy, wild, sometimes heartbreaking ride called parenthood... that's enough.

I wish all of you a Happy, Healthy and Love Filled New Year