Hello and Happy Holidays! It’s been a while since I’ve posted here (not since Staying Dedicated) as the hubs and I are focusing on the wonders of the holiday season and spending time with family and friends. But the other day I had one of those amazing teaching moments and I feel compelled to share.
We were having breakfast for dinner (one of our family favorites, aka: BRINNER) and I was making my over medium eggs. There’s definitely an art to that whole ‘flip the egg without breaking the yolk’ thing, and it helps when you’ve remembered to put butter in the pan first. Which I did not. And my yolks broke.
Yum yum yum! Photo courtesy of Three Dog Kitchen http://treedogkitchen.com/2011/11/17/land-o-lakes-eggs/
Broken yolks don’t matter that much. I mean, it’s not like I spilled everything on the floor. It was still edible, it just wasn’t what I wanted. It wasn’t what I’d been imagining myself eating. It wasn’t what I was looking forward to enjoying.
I called to the hubs, who was in the other room, lamenting that I’d ruined my brinner (dramatic much?). I was so disappointed in that moment because I knew I wasn’t going to be getting what I wanted. When I type it out like this, it really does sound pretty ridiculous!
But here’s the best part: it was amazing. I mean, absolutely AMAZING just the way it turned out. I was so thrilled with my scrambled eggs on gluten free corn tortillas with fresh tomatoes and black pepper that I forgot about over medium eggs. And I ended up getting a better meal (by adding tortillas and tomatoes) than I would have had otherwise.
This. Is. AMAZING! Photo credits for Eddie Cantor (actor, 1933) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Cantor
I commented to the hubs that I hadn’t ruined it at all, that it had instead turned out better than I had hoped for. This is a super silly example, but it still did a good job at stopping me in my tracks and reminding me about one of my favorite characteristics of life: it always works out!
If I had focused on my disappointment over the eggs not being exactly what I was expecting, I never would have been able to enjoy my meal in the long run. On a grander scale, I can recognize how frequently I stand in my own way like that in life. If the weather is colder than I want it to be, I have a hard time getting over that fact and appreciating the crisp blue sky or the graceful way the naked bones of the trees reach for the clouds.
My little egg disaster was actually a beautiful mess that reminded me to be open to change and flexible in my expectations. It reminded me of a lesson that I’m still working on fully internalizing: just because it’s different doesn’t make it wrong. In a world where we are quick to judge and take an ‘us vs. them’ mentality in our families, our work spaces, and our social lives, we all need to be reminded of this lesson.
Each and every one of us is a beautiful mess. This holiday season, I pray you are able to embrace the crazy with the expected, the perfect with the imperfect, and appreciate it all as part of the mosaic of your life. Even broken yolks can be a blessing to you, if you are willing to let them.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the hubs, the Green Hat, Bosco, and I to you!
Good morning snuggles
Enjoying some exercise on Turkey Day.
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