A birthday story to Mom on her 106th birthday and missing her on Mother's Day.
They said he had three grandchildren at that time and he was
just seventy-two and how they always published his letters and that he was
quite prolific. He would have been so proud to see what they wrote. He always
said “as long as they spell our name right, everything is OK.” Yes, Dad they
spelled our name right.
It is said that “one small thought in the morning can change
your whole day.” Of course, it is better if the one small thought is a happy
thought and not a sad or depressing thought. It is also “a day to refill your
soul and to be grateful for your blessings.”
Do you do that when you awaken? Do you think “I wonder if
something great will happen to me today?”
If you do, then you probably are in the minority. Most
people have to get ready for their work day and they may think that they hope
it will be a nice day or perhaps something wonderful will occur. If they are at
work, then perhaps a pleasant remark from their boss or a nice compliment from
a client and then they look forward to their homecoming with their family.
Perhaps, the wife will cook a delicious dinner; the children will run to their daddy,
glad to see he is home. If you are a female, you may look forward to maybe the
husband who came home earlier will have started dinner and the kids are happy
Mom is home now too. If you are single, then perhaps you look forward to having
dinner with your lady friends or perhaps you have a date.
So five o’clock looks delightful if your closing day is
then, some are earlier because they start the day earlier and others may be on
a later closing time because they came in later. There is not much time from
coming home until it is bath time and sleep time. You seem to have little time
for yourself during the five day work week and then the weekends become your
delightful two days off.
If you have a job where you work the weekends, then maybe
you have two days off in the middle of the week and they become your delightful
two days off.
Whatever days they are, they are yours and they are
treasured hours and often they seem too short and they certainly go fast. When
we were first married in 1960, my husband only had every other Sunday off and
he worked every Saturday. I would take the children out for a nice Saturday and
on Sunday; we would eat out as a family, usually in a delly restaurant. That
was where we could hardly wait to eat a nice and huge Kosher hotdog, all beef,
greasy and delicious smothered with French Fries, salted and huge. Sometimes we
ordered chicken noodle soup first and a huge stack of onion rings. When we look
back, they say now cut back on the salt on the fries, hot dogs have preservatives
and nitrates in them and they aren’t the best selection for good health. However,
if you have that dinner not frequently, what the heck? You have to have some
fun sometimes. Some days, we did not get the homemade soup and we dared to eat
two hotdogs. We would slather it with mustard and some put Ketchup on the
fries. It sure was a good dinner and almost everyone in the restaurant ate
similar food. You have to splurge once in a while and what better way than to
eat a hotdog full of nitrates, preservatives and meat.
Dad would often write in his other column in another
writing, a local magazine and in it he wrote homelike articles.He would talk
about how good his wife was in her cooking and how he enjoyed anything she made,
even if it was a simple hotdog at home and a bowl of homemade soup. He seemed
to like to eat home more than out and we did not dine out more than once a
month, if that, in those times of my teenage years.
The important thing is to go out sometimes to a restaurant
and this gives you some happy times to be away from your home. No matter how
lovely it is, it is beneficial to your mind and soul to get out now and then.
It is better to do it now and when you come home; your gorgeous home certainly
looks more beautiful than when you left. It keeps your life in perspective and
dining with others is important for your well-being. It does not matter how
much you spend for dinner, just the going and getting there, the reading of the
menu and just plain eating out. Now we can go online to the restaurant site and
we can view the menu in advance to see if we like what they serve.
Whatever gives you pleasure, even if it is for a short time,
the change of scenery is useful and rewarding. The other night we went to an
all you can eat buffet Asian and American style restaurant for the first time.
At first I was anxious if I would like it, if it too crowded, too noisy, and I
not liking the selection. Well it was marvelous and would you believe me if I
told you I felt ‘content’ being there. I do not know if it was because I had
only recently started to go and eat out now and then since my aching right knee
keeps me home. This became a huge
adventure for me and we were quite satisfied and delighted with the atmosphere,
the prettiness of the walls and spaces and most of all, the extra fine and favorable
array of all kinds of food. We will go back this weekend too. I felt peaceful
there and this is nice.
So thinking a good thought, small is fine, anticipating is
better and getting out for a few hours and then you come home and appreciate
your place even more.
The short outing is a pleasant way to spend a few hours with
other people, different food than you cook and most of all; it is a change of
scenery.
So to Mom on her one hundred and sixth birthday, I know you
loved coming to my house for dinner every week and you loved going with your
lady friends out to eat a buffet American style or to a Chinese restaurant. I
am thinking of you today, missing you and loving you and I know you would love
reading my writings and this one is for you and also to Dad who would adore my
columns.
You raised your baby girl well and you taught me to love my
blessings and what we had. You taught me not to be envious of others; just to
go out and try to attain everything I wanted.
I did that and I still do that and every morning I think and
hope that it will be an unbelievable day, as my email friend, Steven Behr
teaches his students in Washington State that in his Wellness Classes. They are
all told to have an unbelievable day, no matter what day of the week it is.
So here is to these special days, restaurants and greasy
hotdogs and to fries with a bit of salt on them and most of all to us, good
folks doing good things and having good days.