“We clean our plates, yet we’re still
famished—starving for something other than food.”
― Kate Wicker, Weightless: Making Peace With Your Body
― Kate Wicker, Weightless: Making Peace With Your Body
‘Tis the season to be jolly. Are you?
I am looking forward to the next few
days—visiting with friends and family, eating too much and then eating some
more.
There are so many details I feel I need
to remember in order for the next few days to go smoothly (meaning, I don’t
feel overwhelmed or disappointed). Most of the details are about food. The right herbs for the turkey stuffing,
the napkins that match the plates, the right butter for the rolls …which I just
realized I forgot to buy!! So I
have a choice--- run around town trying to find a store that still has dinner
rolls OR sit back and calmly finish this piece of writing. A few years ago, I would be in the car
by now, cursing myself. Today, I
chose to keep writing. We have
stuffing and potatoes so we don’t really need rolls. J In fact, we don’t really NEED most of the things I’ve prepared! Turkey, stuffing and a vegetable would
be enough. Potatoes, two more vegetables,
three dessert choices: all extras.
Why is it that I focus on the
extras? I strive to add extra
details to all my projects, not just meals. I don’t think it’s for the accolades. I definitely don’t think that the
basics are enough. I am always wanting to add more and more until I’m satisfied
that I could, indeed, do no more.
I don’t want to do anything ‘just fine’. Yet the basics are all that is needed. The extras should be about people, not
food or stuff.
New thought: The extras allow me to detach from real relationships with
the people who are participating in the meal or project. If I have a clipboard
of things to do, I don’t need to worry about making connections with people. I’m not good at ‘cocktail
conversation’. I am not up on the
details of current affairs and I don’t have a wealth of interesting facts in my
repertoire. In all honestly, if
its not about education or Joubert Syndrome (www.jsrdf.org)
I feel out of my element. I wasn’t
always like this. I used to have a
repertoire of jokes and anecdotes to keep the audience laughing. Now I just can’t work that hard. I don’t have the quick mind that I did
in my 20’s so my witty comebacks are a few beats late or only heard in my
head.
No wonder I feel empty at a party that I
did not organize. I wander from
group to group, never feeling that I’m part of any of the conversations. Not that I’m excluded! The people I associate with are very
lovely and always make room in the circle for me to participate. It’s just in my head.
I believe that we ‘create our own
reality’. Life is about the choices we make and we are meant to be in
relationship with each other to be a true community. Only then are we really
following Jesus’ example of how to ‘do this life right’.
I need to think more about why I feel
empty in a crowd.
And you're fooling yourself if you don't believe it
You're killing yourself if you don't believe it
You're killing yourself if you don't believe it
By Tommy Shaw, Styx
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