On Saturday afternoon, E and I wound our way through the store for a few essentials, me awkwardly navigating the giant “fun for kids, horror show for their chaperones” cart while sympathetic parents gave me extremely gracious looks. One even gave my arm a squeeze and said warmly, “Good luck, mama,” as I passed with a sheepish “Excuse us, so sorry.”
Side note. Whenever this happens – that word or some variation of it – I freeze for a second because I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel. Am I supposed to clarify for all and sundry that this boy actually did not come from my body and his mama isn’t here? Or is it okay to just smile and say “thank you” to the kind stranger as I feel a twinge of joy because he is my boy, lodged in my heart, and that very afternoon he brought tears to my eyes when he threw his arms around me for a spontaneous hug, and I think his real mama is glad to know I love him.
So we made our way through the store, out of the store and over to his grandparents’ house where he had a sleepover party with them last night while his dad attended an alumni function and I celebrated my mom’s birthday with my folks and several friends. Around the table with the women there, we talked about all kinds of things and healthy eating was one of them. I’ve been making such an effort to cook more, to be more on top of things in the kitchen, to learn to enjoy the process more, but healthy, natural foods aren’t always my specialty. We eat a lot of fresh food – salads for instance – but I think know we have room to improve.
My mom recently got a Vitamix and has been making things like fresh hummus and cashew cream sauce. A few friends were talking about what we dubbed “green drink” – the green, fruit-and-vegetable-based smoothies that many of my friends are drinking for breakfast each day. A woman I went to college with recently went vegan after discovering her young son cannot eat dairy products, and two of my yoga teachers recently opened a raw vegan juice bar and restaurant in Portland. Healthy eating is everywhere. Growing up Seventh-day Adventist, I ate a mostly vegetarian diet, but I can’t say I’ve ever eaten the most healthy diet I could. I enjoy cheese and pastries and plenty of things that aren’t great for me if eaten in large quantities. Although I go through phases of thinking about becoming a vegetarian again, I don’t know that it will ever happen in a strict sense.
Still, I’d like to do better at eating both a more healthy diet and more local foods. I’m considering purchasing a partial CSA share this year and I want to try more plant-based recipes and continue stocking our diet with meals like a large salad or even tacos loaded with fresh toppings. I want a more balanced life – more healthy for myself and my favorite guys.
And especially as the weather begins to warm (I’m saying that in hopes that it will, it feels like it’s snowed or rained or “wintry mixed” every day lately), I really want to focus on another aspect of a healthy, balanced life – spending more time outside doing things. We watched parts of the movie The Art of Flight this weekend and one of the opening statements in the movie really resonated with me – the idea that a constant stream of second-hand data consumption is no substitute for really living. During the winter months especially, I find it easy to default to this second-hand consumption of life. I go through the same patterns each day – waking up, going to work, going home too mentally drained to do much besides let down and consume that second-hand data, things other people are doing and experiencing.
But, particularly since what I do for work is so mentally draining, this is not the way that I want to live during my non-working hours. Somehow I need to find a way to stop letting myself be completely depleted by work and leave something with which to enjoy life. I guess I’m just realizing that the way I have been living isn’t the way I need to be living, and the changes that accompany our recent move-in are propelling me towards actually taking action on that feeling.
Just some thoughts I had this weekend. (They never seem to last long enough, do they?)
// Photos from our trip to the Common Ground Fair in 2011
March 4, 2013 - 11:00 am
I totally understand what you’re talking about, coming home too mentally depleted to do anything fun or productive for yourself. I think it may come a little easier to be motivated to be more active now that you have someone to come home to. When I had my own apartment, coming home to two cats made it easy to just fall on the couch and veg out.
On a side note, what does CSA stand for? If you and Matt are into trying international food, you should try some korean recipes. I know most of them are meat based, but since my parents raised me vegetarian they made anything with meat either with a tofu substitute or some form of veggie meat. Plus, all the side dishes are made of plants. I have some recipes typed out if you’re interested.
Sharon J. Gilman recently posted..Work is a necessary evil to be avoided ~Mark Twain
March 6, 2013 - 12:54 pm
Oh hummus is one of my favorites! And it’s so easy to make!! =) Good job! healthy eating is not hard at all when you get into the habit of it!
March 6, 2013 - 1:18 pm
Love these! Have a wonderful week! Xo, M&K at BT