Monday, November 27, 2017

When Life Gives You....Olives



Ok, I know some of you think that olives are manna from heaven. I don't. They are black, squeaky and taste like..... moldy dirt? Rancid cockroaches? Soggy Socks? Can't quite put my finger on it. 

Anyways, for those of you who want to marry olives and can't get enough just fill in the blank with candy, bread, artichokes, turkey, celery or whatever food makes you gag. 
To me olives are a good example of something yucky, gross and frankly, disappointing. Life has a lot of those things. Of course there is SO much wonder and joy in this life but here are also those things that are hard to look in the eye. Things that make you just want to crawl back in bed and not come back out... until.... ever. But really why do I think that I should have all good and no bad in my life? Without the bad wouldn't the good stuff get mundane? For example, I grew up in Los Angeles. The weather in L.A. is amazing most of the time. When it rained or was cloudy or stormy we would run outside and breathe in the smell of wet pavement, cuddle up with a blanket on the porch and get happy chills from the excitement! Oh weather glorious weather! Compared to the beautiful 70/80 degree days a little weather was magical and amazing and so so glorious! Bring on the thunder!!

Now, I live in Utah where there is WINTER. Real live snowy, blowy, freezy, wheezy, dark, gray WINTER. There is real weather and the luster of blustery days has begun to wear off. Fall has taken on an ominous tone with the reality of Winter lurking just around the corner. I realize that these feelings may wear off someday. I may begin to accept the biting cold and the piles of snow. The kids fighting endlessly while the t.v. blares in the background. Cabin fever may become a welcome feeling. A time when I learn to knit or put 5000 piece puzzles together while I sip coco in the rosy glow of candlelight.  But this year, this month I feel kind of like Winter is a mouthful of olives and I have to gag it down, left to deal with the putrid aftertaste. 

As much as I am dreading the long Winter, I realize that I have to find the good. Kind of like how olives usually accompany two things that I love. Thanksgiving or Mediterranean food. I put up with the olives, or at least pick them out of my food, because I love the things that surround the olives. And aren't olives fun to stick on your fingers and wave around? 

Winter has to be like that for me. I've got to put up twinkly lights, play the fireplace movie on the t.v., take a walk in the snow, take up a new indoor hobby. It forces me to clean out closets that I have ignored the rest of the glorious year when we were frolicking by the pool or playing at the park. I can take the opportunity to rub yummy smelling immune boosting essential oils on my kiddos feet while they drool with relaxation. This is how I will have to face Winter. Not because I have to but because life is filled with things that are hard. Things that I have to do but don't want to do. I have to face these things because I want to live life well. This is the kind of self care that makes me a better person in the long run. Facing hard things with the knowledge that doing it well will be so good for my spirit and that I will be happier to have come through this hard thing having faced it well.  Even if it's.... Olives.
















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