Is it just me or do others notice that everyone desperately needs therapy? Therapy is defined as TREATMENT INTENDED TO RELIEVE OR HEAL. What a beautiful thing. I love the word 'heal.' I feel a sense of healing whenever I am in the kitchen. Whenever I share my creations with others. I think most of us, probably all of us, have varying levels of time where healing needs to be a part of our priorities. Therapy can come in so many shapes and forms, I think. Welcome to Tableforsue! Thank you so much for joining me! Today's blog is an open, vulnerable invitation to see how the kitchen provides me with balance and healing. (Getting there every day!) I hope something strikes a chord for you to relate with and somehow, in some small or big way, I can bring some joy, hope, faith, laughter, love, recipes your way....
First up, ADAPTING - My spin on a Shepherd's Pie. We were sent home from school in February of 2020. It was still winter in Minnesota and suddenly everyone was inside & isolated. For me, I was teaching 5th grade so I was incredibly fortunate to have that job security. Like anything, I think, there were highs and lows in many of the situations. Some of my colleagues envied my solitude, yet, I envied their family time. Okay, the title is "KITCHEN THERAPY" so I need to be very open & real. I reveled in the solitude of my cozy, treetop apartment, my two kitties, and my kitchen. This Shepherd's Pie was kind of like a 'fridge dump' one evening. I sautéd any fresh veg I had with ground beef & topped it with a butternut squash mash. I am obsessed with fresh herbs so they make an appearance every time. Basil is always a winner!
(I prep everything on the stovetop; lay a baking dish with the cooked meat/veg mixture and top with the mashed butternut squash. Then bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 350.)
As the pandemic continued, my routine became logging in with my 5th graders at 8(ish)a.m.; logging off with the last kids around 5pm; taking a bubble bath; and getting in the kitchen. I would log back on every night about 10pm and lesson plan/do school work until nearly 2 or 3am. That break between 5pm and 10pm was my therapy. My way of giving myself a full tank so that I could show up the way I wanted to & the way my students needed me to. I always had such great attendance which was one of the worst challenges during Distance Learning. My kids and I had so much fun. It was incredible work we all had, to adjust and adapt and continue educating our kids. I certainly empathized with those around me who were not coping as well. I believe our mindset is the driver of our health and I think, for me, staying home was a gift because my work place had become too heavy for me. There was much toxicity from adults so the Distance Learning gave me the separation I needed to remember that my focus was always meant to remain with my students. Wish I had re-grasped that sooner. I was a happy and positive place for my kids during a time when there were many layers of shit storms from a global pandemic to the murder of George Floyd blocks from our school followed by our students' neighborhoods going up in flames. Cooking with my kids even virtually, perhaps especially virtually, brought us some much needed fun. Some of the parents would peek at what we were cooking up. 😍
I loved showing my kids this cauliflower idea. I blanched a whole head in boiling water. Then I poked cubes of cheese into the crannies. Read on....
After seasoning with salt and pepper, I brushed some beaten egg on the cauliflower and then coated it with a homemade breadcrumb mixture (I used any bread or crackers I had left in the kitchen and processed them with seasoning, parmesan and yes, herbs!! (& some slivered almonds I had left) ). Baked in oven at 350 until it was golden.
A lil steak and horseradish paired with the yummiest cauliflower ever! During this time, I also reveled in helping out my mom & dad. I would go and get all of our groceries and my mom would have a panic attack if all that was left of paper towels was to buy them in bulk. lol
With the support and love of my family, friends, colleagues, and students/families, I was able to adapt to the challenges we faced. I always have love in my life and a roof over my head and food to prepare. I cannot imagine having all of those things and more and still moving about the world with such resentment, anger, dissatisfaction or hate. I think finding the treatments that relieve us and heal us are key. Whether there are many or few. Kitchen therapy happens to be one of mine. Bubble baths, meditation, being around animals are as essential for me. And I am a big fan of groups and professional therapy. How about you?
Next up: Kindness! I happen to believe that our ways to find therapy - remember that means ways to relieve us and heal us - can support how we adapt and how kind we are to ourselves and others. Think about it - when you're miserable, you are most certainly miserable to others. And if you're putting on an act, most people can feel when others are unauthentic. If you're unkind, the least you could do is admit you are unkind. Own it. Give others the open door to decide if they want to accept you for who you are. I am certain there are folks out there that I have offended or even hurt. I have mostly been a very outspoken and opinionated kind of person. I have mostly been very passionate about certain things and I have mostly been very unafraid of sticking out even when unpopular. Even when I risked being completely wrong or even embarrassing myself. Quite a few! Therapy has helped me be more balanced; more positive; and most of all, a better listener. My students have taught me through our lessons together that perspective is spectacular! I try to soak in the good relationships at this point in my life. Like my friend Spike. He is all good. Every cell of his being. He makes me want to be good too. In reference to Maya Angelou at the end of this blog, Spike is a rainbow with every soul he encounters. He is not as kind to himself as much as he should be. I sent him a portable dvd player and tons of dvd's I know he would love. With an old walkman headset. I love sending him dvd's from my stash and then chatting on the phone about every detail. It is a kindness that Spike gives himself to slow down and buy some candy and watch a great movie from 'Suck-em's' library!! Therapy
(Spike & I were camp counselors together 100 years ago and he called me "suck-em" down Sac back when I liked beer. lol)
I once had a colleague tell me that I could be very dismissive. I asked her to give me some examples. When she did, I completely understood where she was coming from. "My gosh, that is very dismissive! I am so sorry." I remember thanking her for sharing that with me. She was not mean or aggressive. She wanted me to know that my responses were hurtful and dismissive and unkind. It was such an important act of honesty for me because after all of these years, I am much more considerate of not dismissing others in any professional or personal conversation. I do not like to be dismissed so I sure do not want to do that to others. I am a sucker for kindness. As bold, opinionated, passionate, and extroverted as I am, I have always chosen kindness. I watched every episode of Little House on the Prairie 1,700 times. I hope you will always feel my kindness. I also prefer directness. I think kindness and directness can work in harmony. For me, it is so much kinder to be lovingly open than bitterly passive. (I will add here that I am not some Saint or authority - I have made many mistakes and have off put more people than I can count. But I know this - because of my abundantly blessed, loving upbringing, I can say with all certainty that I have a good heart. I could share so many stories from the time I was very young where I could strongly feel hate from people. It took me a long, long time to realize that my outgoing nature, my relationships with others, my very joy was deeply envied by individuals who were in pain. Often pain that I could not even fathom. Their hatred toward me had nothing to do with me. I try, now, to not take in that burden from others and only check in with myself. Am I okay with how I am behaving? Do I need to adjust? Am I listening? Or shall I just walk away and, this is key, give that person/situation grace instead of all of those negative feelings that are only hurting you, not them. They are already full of heaviness. Giving them grace is easy because we should really want people to feel better in their skin. Ya know? Directness in situations like this can still be done with consideration and honesty. Directness should not be confused with aggression. I have learned to only choose that directness with individuals who are actively in my life. Not ones who I do not have invested, mutual love & respect with. And PS: joyful folks have plenty of their own shit too! ox)
When I think of KIND, I think of soup. I think about the feeling I get inside when I can make a giant pot of soup for people I love or people I just meet or any people who love soup! There is no kinder feeling than when I reflect back on the "Mommies/Aunties" of our students - they would come on Fridays to sell homemade tacos, taquitos, salsa, and other delicious Latino offerings. I could drink their avocado salsa!! I created a spicy hominy soup inspired by these delicious mommies and topped it with an avocado, lime salsa. Mmmmm
You might be a big beef person who will only eat soup if beef is the star. I would call this a "stoup" because it is like stew, but thinner. Whenever someone thinks about wasting bones that are filled with meat, please freeze them if you don't safely give them to your pups. You can make a delicious soup some other day when the mood strikes ya! Plus, it is the kinder thing to do on so many levels - to not be wasteful. (All of that beautiful beef in here was on bones that were likely going to go to waste. I asked, after a friend's house party, if I could take the bones and I did. I froze them until I was ready to make this stoup.)
I always think of the book by R.J. Palacio called "Wonder." We read it year after year in my class. Over time, I think it softened my edges, ya know? When given the choice between being right and being kind, choose kind. That is a hard one. We like to be right. There are situations where I believed so much in pushing what I thought was right that it spiraled into being unkind. I have learned how to be kind first in situations where I also need to use my voice. Part of being kind is being a better listener. Talkers need to work at this often. I admire both Lars and my dad - they are both much greater observers. They thoughtfully take things in. Anyway, I am no frickin saint that's for sure. I have met a few in my life and no way am I one of them. When I look back over an almost 30 year career in education, though, I know that I loved so much giving all of my heart to everyone & everything in my profession. I grew kinder & kinder over time realizing I must emulate the expectations we as educators have of our kids/families/each other.
So far my 'therapy' has organically evolved into 'adapting' and 'kindness.' Hmmm, cool. That makes sense. I have used my cooking & food love as creative outlets to help with my adjustment (adapt) to a new city and to a pause in a career that defined me for nearly 3 decades. I think I was drawn to kindness for a few reasons - wow - I have to actively, one.day.at.a.time!! seek out the positive, take in the blessings, show gratitude, be patient, etc. I do not force it, rather make a choice each day to feel and see the good. I am no Mary Poppins. I am not fluttering about Houston like a welcome wagon. lol. I am also not rushing to get here or there so I can be patient. The people out there, though, ya'll! I know you know! I guess really beautiful, calm, lovely-weather places may not count, but for the most part, people are giving off some big time "FUCK OFF" energy almost everywhere I go. Menopause has made me feel energy. Physically, strongly feel energy. In myself and in everyone around me. It actually takes the wind out of me at times. Sometimes it is really lovely energy/encounters. Those are the people who are not plugged in throughout each and every one of their days. That's my observation the past few years anyway. And I have been blessed with an unprecedented amount of world travel. (Just a teacher who has had two years off of too much/not enough zen...??) Anyway, I swear by the fact that when I put out more positivity in my day - with my actions, my thoughts, my words - everywhere/anywhere - if I put out more positive than negative, I attract more positivity in my life and therefore can put out even more and so on.... It works. It ain't easy so I go one day at a time. For me, it has to be authentic. I have to truly feel it. Like the drivers in Houston are off the chain, people! Off the chain! If you are an intimidated driver, you may never drive here ever!! They are fast, often inconsiderate, and also often idiotic. See those negative words? I make a decision to remind myself that I am not in some rush. I am a kickass driver and I know that many Houstonians are not so I have to adapt & be kind not only for the betterment of humanity, but also for my heart & stress level. It is very freeing to just continue driving around the world, confident, brave, safe, and also alert and aware of many who are not. Try saying, "you're a dumbass, hazard to the roads", in like a super sweet voice. It'll let it out, but still make you laugh. Those are gems that help me do positivity authentically. 😏
I will close out Kindness by sharing again that my source of healing when I experience unkindness is that kitchen therapy (& a bath & playing with my kitties). When I cook, I get in a peaceful, creative place where I know that the end result is going to nourish those I am cooking for. There is nothing better. And such a common joy that each and every living thing share is the need for, and hopefully the enjoyment of, food. I hope that you will only feel kindness from me. There are certain characteristics in people that trigger my 'red zone', 'blood boil', pressure points. Ya know what I'm saying? Ain't no amount of spaghetti sauce cooking is gonna help me move through certain behaviors without responding. At 51 though, and in the climax of menopause, I have been tested with HOW I respond and it is with so much more grace and compassion. That is not easy because it is often not grace and compassion that you are dealing with in others. I can feel a great amount of negative energy lately, even from some of those I love most in life. I know when I am in my best place, I can show up more positively for them. I just need to master giving myself that same grace & compassion. How about you?
(Red zone characteristic: mean - anything done, said that is just plain mean - it's like a cartoon-sounding alarm goes off in my whole body!!! That's how I know, I have been a lot of icky things in my life, but I have never been someone who wanted to be mean even when it could seem like a reasonable reaction. I HATE MEAN!!!) Admittedly, I hate mean toward animals more than any red alarm for me to completely lose my shit. I will and have lost my shit. There is a 'she-hulk' that lies dormant within. BeeeeeeeWare!!!!!! And be Kind - especially to animals!)
Whew
Let's move on to "Forgiveness." Everyone certainly has different ways of healing when it comes to forgiving someone or forgiving themselves. And then, there are likely a whole lot of those everyone's who go super long periods of time or even their whole lives without ever forgiving someone or themselves. For me, I have the hardest time forgiving myself for mistakes that I have made. I think most of us can probably relate to that. Yet, I also know of people, some very closely, who use language like, "letting go", before really acting on letting go. I have noticed most adults do not deal well with forgiving, apologizing, or certainly not having tough conversations. We tend to "let things go" and let them fester if we choose not to let the relationship go for whatever reason. Those relationships then tend to get less close-knit and more obligatory. I usually write when I am unresolved with a conflict. "As I actively practice living with more positivity, creativity, and public service, I forgive myself for responding to some of the unpleasant behaviors around me with anything other than grace. I feel good in my heart for sincerely sharing an apology with those I love, and missing out on apologies in return cannot take away from the good feeling in my heart when I extend them." It feels so good when someone you love reaches out with a sincere apology. From my experience, though, most adults are pretty defensive and/or closed off. Most adults believe they should be doing the forgiving rather than someone forgiving them.
When I think of honest forgiveness, I think of adding breakfast to my life. This is something that happened during the pandemic. I went from a very strong coffee and maybe something fast and heavy carb to making breakfast and nibbling on it all morning. Forgiveness, to me, suggests fresh and new. Starting my day with something delicious has become such a pleasure that I am grateful for. This is a very lemony, ricotta pancake that I made (extra ricotta! whole milk, fresh!) with a berry sauce. Ahhhh, all is forgiven! Let's have breakfast! I love you!
The thing I hate most about myself, the thing I can never seem to forgive myself for, is the day I smoked my first cigarette. Over 30 years later and I still have not removed myself from the trap, the lies, the expense, the filth, the health hazard, the stench, the hold that nicotine has had on me. It is shameful. I hate them. I love Allen Carr's book, The Easy Way for Women to Quit Smoking without gaining weight.... I have read it at least 5 times. It makes sense to me. The first time I read it, I got it. That was when I stopped loving cigarettes. Which kind of makes it worse because for someone who is trying to live with more grace & positivity, this poison that I am holding on to reads zero positivity in my life. I won't defend it or complain to you when you actively loathe it. There is not one single solitary thing about nicotine that is good. The addiction is something I have to basically have a reckoning with. I must accept the things I can't change - I cannot go back 30 years and say no to cigs. I must open my heart super, super wide and have the courage to become a happy nonsmoker right now, in this moment. That is what I can change. Right now, and God willing, tomorrow too. To be wise enough to see that beating myself up for the years of idiocy is getting in the way of seeing what right now and tomorrow will look like without being a prisoner to a poison. "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." oxoxo
If you have not already read, my maternal grandma, Lillian Shebly, was my, is my soulmate. I had her for 27 years. She was a smoker. I remember when she quit, she went from coffee to tea. She grew very fond of tea. Of course, I am completely crazy about DARK, robust coffee with only a hint of cream and zero sugar! Duh! I have, however, grown fond of making tea in both the cold months and the hot months. It always makes me think of my grandma during her time as a happy nonsmoker. When I get into my 'tea-kicks', I am at my healthiest. Simple - water, any of your favorite tea bags - I used 3 rhubarb and 3 earl grey - sliced citrus & mint. Bring to boil then turn off, cover and let steep for an hour. If you like it sweet, stir in sugar or honey or both while boiling. I let it cool down, then pour it into a pitcher of ice through a colander. Oh grandma, please help me forgive myself for my failures and be happy about the 'right now.' I want to enjoy tea as a happy nonsmoker.
Ya know how you might be rooting me on, feeling empathy, maybe even pity - you know - all the things? Thank you for your positive vibes - now turn those cheers onto you. Is there something or someone you need to forgive? Find your healing ways to get there.
Finally, love. I used to get defensive when others lashed out at my love for love. They either found my outspokenness hypocritical to love or I suppose were less rosy colored glasses type folk. I was like an Oprah's Book Club person for many years. In and out of self help books. Always trying to find ways to motivate and inspire my kids through lesson planning. Caring for people; my family, my friends, my partners, animals, people.... I would rather put love out there whenever I possibly can. It is so simple, yet seemingly impossible for so many of us to understand. All of that awfulness you put on yourself and others each day is a tragic waste to a short time here. Replace all of that with love. In every, single moment. Watch what happens in no time at all. I've read to put out at least 51% positive daily. Tip the scale just that much each day. Soon, it will grow larger. It's The Secret Power by Rhonda Byrnes .. read it! ❤️ (I already shared this in a previous blog, but I read this book in 2019 and practiced positivity one day at a time. Less than a year later, Distance Learning pulled me out of a negative, lonely work environment and allowed me to remember my students were all that mattered. By 2021, I found myself at the beginning of a new chapter, in a new city, with a loving man, & a break to dream catch. Read it. You might be amazed at how much negativity you put out in a day.) oxox
Don't we all love summer? It is such a bright time with outdoor fun and being IN THE WATER which is almost the only place where I don't see someone plugged in! I love the simple eats of summer. A fire kissed hotdog on a wheat bun with super spicy kraut & cheese and a bunch of herbs. One of my favorite things to make in the summer is my dill pickle potato salad! Crunchy, herby, spicy! I love eating this on a paper plate while I am dripping wet from being in the water! Frickin' Famous Dave's Devil's Spit pickles ROCK!!!! HOT!!!
Speaking of LOVE!!!!!!!!!!! For the past 8 or 9 summers, I have joined Lars & his kids & family for a week in The Outer Banks, NC. It is such a wonderful week to look forward to every summer because it's just about the beach and being together. I found the biggest platter I could find last summer and made a big taco dip! All fresh ingredients! I blinked and it was gone! Cream cheese and seasoning, ground beef & pinto layer, cheese - cheese - cheese, all kinds of veg and FRESH jalapeño's are my preference over pickled all day.
Oh yes, we know how to enjoy the beach. We all love it so much!!
Lars' daughter Sarah makes eggs benedict every summer and it's oh so lemony good!!!
Lars' daughter Liz is his perfect sous!!! She always makes sure we get in our fresh veg! LOVE
Just a guy on the beach with his meat! Outerbanks 2022
These kiddos!! Nephew Ethan, Daughters Sarah, Liz, Lexie, & Jose (Liz's hubby). Summer is family time. Summer is love.
Love will also, always be a pot of Nana-inspired sauce with homemade meatballs. Although, I must say, a meatless tomato basil sauce is fine with me too. To me, love starts with my beginning. I was blessed with examples of love everywhere around me. At home, in my neighborhood, at my school, in our churches..... I was taught love through the actions of my parents and their parents. Now that my mom and dad are 81 and almost 80, our relationship is shifting in that I must be the one to practice more patience, more attention, more love. I am equipped to do that because my parents taught me well. My dad has difficulty with short term memory, but his long term memory is pretty outstanding. Through doctoring, age, pain management, life.... my dad is sharing more now than he ever has. Imagine spending your whole life bottling most everything up inside. Can you imagine that? He shared with me recently how he used to help my Nanu with the gas station. The school allowed him to come a bit late every morning so that he could open up the store. Then, Nanu would go in and work after he got off the late shift at another job. My dad would relieve my Nanu after school so my Nanu could go eat supper and then Nanu would go back so my dad could go home and eat. All of this was when my dad was just a young teenager. Meanwhile, another adult family member did only taking. Sadly, through addiction & absence. Never showing up to work. As a kid, I saw my dad's love. Imagine seeing something else throughout your childhood? Something other than love. Anyway, some of those past things that were famously swept under all of the shag rugs, bubble up more often with my dad and I am so happy that he can share anything and everything with me. It is never too late to let something out. It is never too late to heal.
There's nobody I love making sauce for more than my dad. He always says, it's as good as Nana's! oxoxo
Well, I hope I've somehow inspired you to find ways to heal. Find your therapies. Figuring it all out, the challenges and hard stuff we're all stewing in today, is consuming. It's heavy. I don't think life is meant to be that way. Not every day. If we all could adapt to change more considerately, put out some kindness by taking your face away from a screen, forgive yourself & forgive someone who you are harboring bad feelings about. Love. Love more. Love harder. What I mostly hear from all kinds of people is that they've no interest being around people anymore. Since they have to be, imagine going around with that attitude/feeling. Then, imagine going around with, "today, I'm going to be happy.."? However you show yourself love, maybe that's how you can uncover ways to put it out there. Dance, laugh, rest, play....cook! Share....
My cheesy, shroom burgers with sautéed onion & spicy pickles all ready to bring to my school's engineer team. Showing love; spreading love; sharing love.
Ya know how you always see or hear, "..you never know what someone is going through...?" I think it is such an important thing to remember. I just want to close with as much honesty about emotional health as I can. I hope that you will have take aways that bring you balance too. And, of course, I mean not to take away from how big of an advocate I am for professional therapy too! Sometimes we need more than a pot of Nana's sauce. oxox I'm a huge fan of 'the more therapy, the better.' 😍 God Speed.
Thoughts on some 'biggies' & why therapy helps ❤️
*The Internet
Remember, I am a food blog writer. The author of my own stories just like you are the author of yours. My background is K-8th grade teacher since 1994 along with a comedy, amateur cooking & performance career. I am now 51 and have been on a pause from the classroom just two years and I already feel way out of the loop. My kids kept me up to date on all of the latest things. The last thing my 5th graders told me about Social Media was that Facebook is for old people. That was 2021. LMAO! I laughed and told them, well, if the shoe fits.....!! Of course they didn't get that. 🤣. From my point of view, the plugged in life is doing more hurt than good. But it isn't going away so we have to learn how to adapt, I think. I love what I have learned with technology. I was blown away by what some of my colleagues taught me during Distance Learning that made my life as a teacher so much more efficient!! I couldn't believe we didn't have more professional development prior to the pandemic around technology. Too many other important things to get to I suppose. 🙃 Okay, I will just say that from my perspective, I have decided to focus on monitoring my own use of technology. I may sometimes make kind requests to others, or maybe even frustrated requests, but for the most part I had to let go of fretting about social situations and choices of others. Folks are plugged in. That's all there is to it. Older adults just as much, if not more as younger adults and children. My personal commitment is being very conscience of not using my phone around other humans. I also have more solitude than the average person. I love writing and watching shows at night on Netflix so that's technically also plugged in. I have always enjoyed Facebook, but I never got into the others. Somehow Facebook & Instagram are connected, so that's fine, but I have never gotten into Instagram. Like you, I have those I love who have never been on social media and they actively LOATHE it. I respect their disinterest 1000%. Sometimes even envy it. Should we really loathe things we know nothing about and have no experience with whatsoever though?? Hmmmm. Like you, I have those I love that are on a few different platforms. What I find kind of fascinating is that I have only met one person (a lovely 40 year old local woman when I was in St. Kitts) who said confidently and honestly, "....I can't believe you don't have your phone for your pedicure! This is a first! I am glued to my phone! I sleep with it..." She owned it. Loved her!! What I mostly hear from EVERYONE is how they aren't even on Facebook or how Instagram is so much better cuz it's just pictures or other kind of aggressive, judgy rhetoric about all of the Social sites out there. Always insistent on why they aren't really online and I never even asked?! I could be sharing something with someone close about an event coming up or whatever and I will get snapped at out of nowhere with, "...I don't write novela's on facebook or follow people's lives....I'm hardly ever on there...." It goes on. It happens like a lot to me. It would be silly for me to have hurt feelings over feelings that are not mine to worry with. I am naive I guess. A dear colleague and long time friend always gives me shit saying, "Sac, you love everybody, I can't stand you!" Lmao! I enjoy sharing on Facebook. I try to be better at scrolling a bit too so that I can engage with friends that engage with me while also not spending too much time online. Whatever the case may be, like everything I think, we all get out what we put in. I have a lovely, intimate following on the OLD PEOPLE site and sifted through those I didn't know or who I needed to let go with no ill. I get that there are a ton of ya'll on the internet scrolling away and doing little to no engaging. Just like I get the ones that don't want anything to do with dat crap. Just like you should get there are some of us that enjoy sharing novela's.
I love seeing families get involved with activities that unplug their kids. Yet, I have also been enchanted by some of the stories I have watched on TikTok (which I am just dabbling in - lol). Technology is here to stay, to help us innovate and do good! I think we just have to make sure we are collectively modeling truly unplugging and engaging and teaching our young people the BASICS like communicating, hard work, service, empathy, resilience, integrity.... etc!!!. And when we are sitting around, visiting, having a lovely time, I would love for there not to be a, "....let me google it...", in there. Rather, let's either write it off to our menopause brains as not remembering or we can figure it out through more visiting. Look around you next time you are - well - anywhere. I am optimistic, though, that we will soon discover how much happier people are when we're paying more attention. Here's to a better balance.
*Politics I have always said, "I am not a political person." Now that I am older and wiser I realize of course I am. I have pretty strong opinions, I have never missed a vote since I became of legal age, and I am a person who wants to feel as patriotic as I always have most of my life. I am discouraged, but still a proud American. I sure would never disrespect the COUNTLESS number of Americans who have fought and battled and died for our freedoms. Those Americans come in every single background you can think of. I am not boasting to say that I hate the news. I hate it all. I don't believe anything anymore and it's always so awful and depressing. So, Lars keeps me up on things. He knows how to explain everything so well and he listens to NPR on the reg! Lars can explain both perspectives without getting emotion involved and it is incredibly good for me because I run hot on emotion. lol So, honestly, I just want to be in a country where the leaders can all have respectful, productive discourse, they can conflict resolve through their disagreements, they can EMULATE appropriate communication to our young people, and for the love of all that is pure could we ever get REAL WORKING AMERICANS to run? No!! Because they need shit tons of money so every single time there are candidates running, they all have globs of money. My limited spin on politics is that I just believe in a free country where we have options to vote in a leader that is fresh, committed, and intellectual enough to bring some unity. I think pretty much all of the major systems need to be tipped upside down, shaken empty, and restructured. Clean up!!! Aisle 1 Government Aisle 2 Education Aisle 3 Law Enforcement Aisle 4 Health Care This is not meant to be disrespectful. I happen to think it's a no brainer because I was a teacher for just under 30 years and teachers continually have to stay up to date on everything as time inevitably moves on and changes. Time has moved on and changed more than ever in our lifetime so let's just regroup. A lot of those empty pieces will go right back in, but perhaps better positioned. And why, oh why, don't we draw on research that proves to be successful in other parts of the world for these complex areas.
*Religion I prefer using the word faith. I just believe that any of us who have faith in something higher than us that is good and never hateful or violent or condemning then what in the world is so difficult to accept? Just because you may not have a similar faith to another, I don't get why you think yours is somehow superior? Moreover, what person of any faith would be hateful or violent or condemning? No higher power I want to know, that's for sure. I get angry at those who give any God a bad name. Shameful! Learn, grow, open up to the light and love.
Happy Pride and Amen to this beautiful man!!
Check him out here!
I love my church here in Houston! I always feel a sense of healing at Bering United! I may be Catholic, but my mom said it's completely fine. oxox
Thank you for hanging in there through "Kitchen Therapy!" I think I needed therapy. Ahhhh, time to "get cookin!"
I leave you with my favorite message from Ms. Angelou - May she rest...
I love where Maya got her strength & I'm working every day to be a blessing to others.... I love you Maya! What I love about this so much is that it is true - we should take those of us with us who were kind to us whenever we need some back up/support/courage. Living or Non. We tend to stew in the unkind.
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