Saturday February 27 2016  DON’T BE AFRAID TO CHANGE THE RECIPE

“Don’t be afraid to change the recipe.”  That is a direct quote that my husband said to me just the other day.  Again, I had asked him for a blog title, and that is what he said to me.  His comment came on the heels of a discussion about people and situations in our lives.  He inferred that perhaps I should just mix things up a bit and not be afraid to change the recipe of my life.  Anyway, that’s the meaning I understood from his comment.  If I am incorrect about his meaning he may make a comment about my understanding of what he said if I am incorrect.  But, regardless what he may or may not have meant, I am going to roll with that premise. 

I get so used to doing things a certain way, such as writing my blog, or always doing certain things in a certain order, or always cooking with the same ingredients and finding the results are always the same.  Perhaps I should become a bit bolder and not be fearful of experimenting.  I’m always bold about my cooking.  I’m not afraid to change a recipe when food is involved.  After all, what is the worst thing that could happen?  That it won’t taste good?  Well, there is always a remedy for that.  Just add jalapenos peppers to anything and it is immediately improved.  But all kidding aside, perhaps I really do need to take a closer look at my life and be willing and daring enough to change the “recipe” of the way I live.  It is easy to get stuck in the same routine.  Especially when you get into retirement age.

I’ve listened to those who are older than me, I’ve read books, I’ve had a limited time now in the old age bracket, as well as a few short months of retirement.  I can understand how it would be very simple and easy to just find the “perfect” way to do something and then just stick with it, day in and day out.  After all, routine makes life easier.  It is helpful when we have a pattern of how and when we do certain things so we don’t forget how it is done, or, that it needs to be done.  I get that.  But you know, sometimes we might just want to jump out of the box and try something new.  That is when experimenting with your new recipes come into play.  I find myself trying something one way, if it doesn’t work, trying it another.  After I’ve tried a few things and nothing seems to make me any more satisfied than my old recipe, then I can just go back to the tried and true.  But I have decided I will not be afraid to try something new.  Who knows, I might find something that is even better than the original recipe.

And that is where I am in my life right now.  Sort of like a young child, finding their way around in a world that they are getting used to.  Retirement feels similar to that.  I see that happening in my world at present.  My world is different now.  My world has expanded and opened up.  Before I went on my trip I was rigid with myself and my routine.  Up between 4:30 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., then a quiet time with the Lord, go to the gym, get home and finish up my photo work.  Home on Thursdays for the produce box, and then cooking and preparing foods for the freezer for the next couple of days.  Not every week was exactly the same but there was still a rigidity about it.  And now it is different.  I still long for structure, yet there is a freedom that I am tasting and can’t seem to get enough of.

Nothing has been the same since I arrived home last July.  I have not been able to adapt to a true routine.  I’ve tried.  But, it is sort of like every single day is Christmas.  I so anticipate it, waiting to see what gifts it will hold, how it will unfold, and how much I can get done in the course of its hours.  It seems like the last few months have been full of experimental recipes.  Maybe it is getting used to Dave being home.  However, I can’t blame anything on him because he is such a great help to have around.  Especially when it comes to cleaning up the kitchen, doing the laundry, helping me strip and remake the bed, cleaning the front bathroom (and I do the others), and he also does all the vacuuming.  Plus, now that winter is making an early run for it, he is out in the yard doing spring cleanup.  He can keep that recipe going!  He really enjoys working in the yard.  I fear when he gets back out in the yard I will have a lot more to do inside.  We haven’t yet experienced a “normal” year of retirement at home.  From the time he retired in July, all the way until the beginning of January, he was either sick or recovering from surgery, or we were on a trip.   And it may be happening again, the trip part that is. 

So, what I guess I am saying is, I’m not afraid to change the recipe, but it’s been so long since I made the original recipe that I can’t quite remember how to make it again.  Perhaps I need to go back and take stock of my larder and make certain I have everything I need to make a new recipe work.  Life does not stay the same even from one day to the next.  I must be prepared to go with the flow and use whatever I have in my pantry to make the recipe needed for today.  It does make life a bit spicier.

My ultimate goal is to just go with the flow for right now.  Accomplish what I can, enjoy every moment of everything I do, and not worry about all that is not getting done.  It may not yet be the right time to add one more ingredient into the mix yet.  I’ll just give it another taste test in about month.

THE PERFECT RECIPE

By Kathleen Martens

February 27, 2016

The perfect recipe is only perfect

If the tester likes the taste.

Someone else might not like it at all,

To them it would all be a waste.

Each one has their own desires

Of what a flavor should be.

And with a bit of experimentation

Another ingredient might be the key.

Each one to his own fondness.

And so it is the same with life.

What may work fine for some,

To another would cause much strife.

So we must each choose our path

And taste the world on our own.

And what ingredients we add today,

To others may not ever be known.

What is important is we chose the course,

For we answer only to self.

And if we ever need a new ingredient,

We can always take it off the shelf.

A difficult blog to write for it to be such a simple topic.  All I know is that my key ingredient for life is GOD!

GOOD NIGHT AND GOD BLESS  YOU!

REMEMBER:  DON’T BE AFRAID TO CHANGE THE RECIPE!