friday

october

30

2015

inspiration station

always more ahead

Last weekend, our house was lively and full - an Italian mamma's dream. The kiddies were home from college, one had brought along two roommates, and our niece Amanda was visiting from New York. We attended a college football game Saturday, ate homemade lasagna, pigged out on Penn State Creamery ice cream (best stuff on Earth) and enjoyed our family time.

Sunday, when hubby had departed with the girls to return them to college, niecey had left to drive back home, and our son had ventured out with friends for the day. There I was sitting solo in a quiet house, in a silent kitchen, missing everyone immediately.

On facebook, in reply to my melancholia, a friend wrote, "Be thankful for what you just had and look forward to all that is yet to come."

Wise words.

On another facebook post, on a different topic, someone had posted, "Fall is the worst." When I asked, "What's wrong with fall?" she answered, "Fall means that summer is over!"

So it wasn't that the beautiful autumn season was so awful, she was just pining for the season that had just finished, much like I was aching for our house to be filled again.

And, of course, it will. Just like her summer will return.

Even though I felt melancholy that day sitting in the kitchen, I didn't choose sadness (because who wants to feel sad? Sadness doesn't feel good).

Instead I reminded myself, there IS always more to come.

More kids' visits home ... more football games ... more lasagna and Penn State ice cream ... more summer ... more flip-flopping ... more festivals ... more gatherings ... more parties ... more laughter ... more trips ... more relaxing ... more girlfriend time ... more activities ... more parades ... and more of whatever we create and invite in.

Halloween will always come around again, as will Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, winter, spring, summer and fall.

We have more friends to meet ... more good times to share ... more memories to make ... more birthdays to celebrate ... more days to marriage ... more books to write ... more photos to take ... more people to love ... more art to invent ... more experiences to have ... more faces to kiss ... more pumpkins to carve.

And for those of us who believe that our souls return again and again, there are many more lives to live.

Let's not choose sadness when something is over, let's choose happiness and gratitude, and realize that we were blessed to live and experience it.

Now we look forward to the next thing ... because there is always more ahead.

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snippeteer backtalk

"I enjoyed your SNIPPETS today, as usual, but the reason I am commenting is because of your joke. Thanks to you, I enjoyed a real belly laugh while having my after dinner tea. I just discovered those two things shouldn't be done at the same time! But all is well now. The joke will now make the rounds in my neighborhood. Thank you for a good laugh!" ~ Paula C in NJ

judgmental judy

in the case of turkeying out

ALL RISE. Order in the court!

Family traditions are nice, including an annual Thanksgiving Italian family feast. The antipasto, pasta, turkey, ham, vegetables, salads, Italian olives, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, Italian cookies, cakes & pies, and the other massive amounts of food everyone brings to the table.

But sometimes a party host (a.k.a. Judgmental Judy) gets weary of hosting 60 people and wishes to take the turkey way out by altering Thanksgiving plans.

When Judgmental Judy suggested the other day to hubby that this year's celebration of the family's Thanksgiving might be eating in a restaurant, his reaction was, "That is so non-traditional!"

Nontraditional, yes ... but practical. Was The Judge "turkeying out" on all the work of assembling a day of food and family?

Uh ... YES.

Judgmental Judy realizes that most hubbies (and brothers, sons, nephews, uncles, male cousins, brothers-in-law, and actually - most of the male species in general) merely SHOW UP for Thanksgiving. Their week before the holiday does not include planning a menu, grocery shopping, lugging it all home, prepping, chopping, rolling, salting, cooking, roasting, and baking. Then there's the LONG TABLE setup: tablecloths, chairs, plates, utensils, napkins folded just so, and Thanksgiving themed centerpieces. And the DRINK TABLE: soda, wine, beer, ice, water, cups and magic markers to scribble your name on the cup ... and Scotch for Uncle Gerry. Plus the HOUSE ATTENTION: decorations, clean bathrooms stocked with enough toilet paper and towels, lighting candles, straightening up, and hiding the pumpkin pie so no one eats it on Thanksgiving Eve.

Right. So the men just show up, crack open a few beers, pile the food onto their plates, gobble it all, undo their belts, and settle down with another beer to watch the football game.

Hmmmmmmm. We don't think so, turkey.

You think one of them could at least buy a pumpkin pie or something? So, don't be telling Judgmental Judy what is traditional or nontraditional. The tradition of women waiting on men is what they really want ... and what we don't.

The Judge bangs her gavel on