Food Obsession

We have become a people obsessed with food. There is the Food Network, cooking magazines, cookbooks, food blogs, and restaurants galore. Not only is taste a consideration, but presentation and aroma. Cupcakes have become an unnatural phenomenon. Cakes are looking like buildings, people, and animals. Burgers have become gourmet.

I don't like to cook. In fact, I find it nothing more than a monotonous chore. What to cook? That is a question that haunts me daily. On very rare occasions, I get slightly enthusiastic about a meal. Usually, I'm not the one cooking it.

Can you imagine what the world would be like if we took all the energy obsessing about food, and placed that passion towards something of true value, such as our walk with the Lord?

Teens

The teen years have got to be some of the toughest years of life. Not a kid. Not an adult. Stuck in limbo. People telling you what to do, and at the same time expecting you to mature and make your own choices.

I don't miss those years in the slightest. As I watch my kids fight their own personal battles during these years, it reminds me how grateful I am for parents that supported my accomplishments, pointed out my faults and loved me the same no matter what.

I pray that as my kids have up days and down days, good grades and bad, accomplishments and failures, I love them more and more through each one.

For the Love of...

If I entitled this post "Rant and Rave," one might think that it was of a political nature due to the hostility in the political spectrum. However this "Rant" is of a more personal nature. Introspective almost. At the grand old age of 42 it should be expected that an individual might have reached some sort of pinnacle of distinction. Arrived. Succeeded. However I find myself quite where I was ten years ago. Some of the surroundings are different, maybe slightly improved; the children have grown, taller, if not also minutely more mature; and lest I neglect to say, I have become thinner albeit grayer.

But why is it after 42 years I still struggle with the most ridiculous issues. For starters, my mouth. Maybe I should have it removed. Not only would my dietary consumption be reduced-drastically-but no longer would I catch myself mid-sentence desperately trying to change course from the direction I have begun.

Secondly, my temper. It is connected to my mouth. I'm not sure which is the bigger of the problems, nor am I sure which is the instigator. My mouth leads to debate, thus leading to frustration (from all parties I am sure) and then anger joins the fray. But often anger arrises first, only to have my mouth jump on the bandwagon. It truly is a vicious cycle.

For now, I press on. What else can I do? If these were the only two struggles I had, life would be quite peachy, but they are only part of the picture. Life is a challenge. From the big things to the small.

Done ranting. Time to drink coffee, think happy thoughts, love the family and say nice things. See, there is improvement already!

A symbol??

At the school of higher learning that my two eldest attend, the freshmen class participates in an advisory period each Wednesday. I personally believe it is one of the biggest wastes of time during the school day. Mind you, I think much of the day is a complete waste, but this seems to take the award in the waste category.

"Last week, we were asked to come up with a symbol that we felt represented who we are." When my daughter informed me that this was the topic of the advisory, I had to contain my enthusiasm. Doesn't every parent dream of the day when their child finally designs their own symbol?

I am curious which school administrator thought up this most creative method to dumb down the classroom one more notch. Was it in an effort to assure our kids are at the bottom of the intelligence pool, or was it maybe developed by a fan of the "Artist formally known as Prince?"

All in all, the high school experience provides a wide variety of learning. I am quite sure, most of what is learned will not provide them the skills to face the world I want for them. But then I'm not so sure the world I want, will be there for them.

Spring

Caught in what seems to be an endless winter, I am still drawn to Spring Cleaning. Pulling things out of cupboards, rearranging, discarding, scrubbing, I bring in the ladder to reach the spots that no one can see, yet I feel such satisfaction as I look at the top of my cabinets and realize the I know they are clean. It is a compulsion to have a neat and tidy house.

I look back on the years of babies in the house and laugh at the unrealistic expectations I had. I would alphabetize their little cardboard books, in hopes that they would put them back as they had found them. Every toy had a place, and the kids were quite well trained in putting things back. I thought I had created perfect children, slightly OCD, yet in a more "normal" view. How could I have been so wrong. Not one of my children has the need to have clean around them.

They are all content with things where they leave them. For years I was frustrated and anguished over the lack of concern for a spotless house from my family. It affected me in ways I hated. I would panic when people would call and say they were dropping by. I would frantically run around the house in a state of panic. "What would they think?" "What would they see." It has been so freeing to be able to relax in my home. I have accepted my family for who they are. I cannot change their personalities. I cannot make them be me. I can nurture who they are, mold them to be the very best they can be and I can pray that God would guide their lives.

And pray they marry neat freaks!