August 3, 2006

• Today I was having lunch at a Chinese fast food restaurant that is very good.  I was eating a dish that included zucchini.  My Dad had a garden and always had many zucchini plants.  Our meals often included zucchini cooked every which way you can cook it, boiled, fried, baked, pickled, etc…
  
  As I was eating my meal, I all of a sudden closed my eyes and I was transformed back to 1971 sitting the kitchen in our house back in Houston.  It was the weirdest thing I have ever experienced.  I was savoring the taste and experiencing everything as if I was actually back in my childhood home 35 years.  I could clearly see everything that was going on in my life at that moment.  The feeling of total peace permutated through my entire being.  I could see events that were happening as if they were happening in the present tense.  I was basking in the moment enjoying every single event of joy as if I was 14 years old again.  I could see the impact I was having on everyone around me in a way that I could not see back then.  It was pretty amazing! 
  
  I then remembered I was in a fast food restaurant eating lunch with my eyes closed but at the same time, I could recall events that were happening around me as if I was actually there again.  Somewhere in the experience I realized that I probably looked pretty silly sitting there with my eyes closed and thought to myself that I needed to open my eyes so that no one would come up to me and ask if I was ok.  As I was thinking about this, I thought, “I have more zucchini on my plate so I can open my eyes to see who might be watching and then go back by eating more of this delicious vegetable and be transformed back to the place I was experiencing”.  I opened my eyes to see that I was not being watched and no one was aware that I had left the building for a moment.
  
  I got another mouth full of zucchini only to find that the moment was gone.  Funny thing is that there was no remorse for the loss of the transformation and the glow of the moment still lingered.  My fortune cookie said “Ask your Mother” which was strange since I had just had the journey in my head.
  
  Later in the day my kid sister called to tell me about something that had happened with her 2 boys that morning.  She said that they were discussing how each of us has stuff that we must do and that if we do what we are supposed to that it effects others and adds to the stuff that they may have to do.  Becky then told her boys that it was just like Memaw (our mother) used to say, “Sometimes, you just gotta take care of your stuff!”.  Her boys argued with her that Memaw never said that.  They went on an on until the boys finally reminded her that Memaw always said “Sometimes you just gotta take care of your s**t!”  Becky laughed and conceded that this was the phrase that Mom often used.
  
  All of this would not be so awesome if I left out the part where I got to use that phrase on someone that needed to hear it.  I have attempted to help this someone out but to no avail.  That someone still hasn’t figured out that they will someday have to take charge of their life but at least I told them what they needed to hear.

  Sugar coating what we say is appropriate most of the time but sometimes it takes a baseball bat to make a point.
  

  • 1:52 am
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