Spinach Salad Drama

This post may very well end up being a vent more than anything else, but, hey, that's what you all read this for, right? Real life with some comic relief thrown in on the side.

I've been working on the ward cookbook editing recipes, combining recipes (hence, the drama) and working on the cover. And all of this is mixed in with the everyday trials of what my brother-in-law calls "the school of earth life" (or something like that!)

So, why spinach salad drama? I have 7 (count them SEVEN) spinach salad recipes all called (you guessed it) Spinach Salad (well, two are Strawberry & Spinach salad). Why drama? I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings because I've combined her recipe with some other sister's recipe that only has a couple of different ingredients. BUT I also don't want to have 7 recipes all called Spinach Salad.

Isn't it funny/interesting how we sometimes become so over-protective of things like a recipe. Why do you suppose that is? I've come to the conclusion that it really isn't the recipe at all... it's something else that we think defines who we are or perhaps is a facade to hide one of our scabs that we wish other people would leave alone.

I've had a couple of those LEAVE-MY-SCABS-ALONE weeks. You know the little things that jump out of the dark (or in my case out of the water) and threaten my tender scabby-spot created by having two of my children drown almost 27 years ago. I think I have gotten stronger, that the scab has healed more this time but then someone starts picking at my scab (LEAVE IT ALONE! I want to scream.) Telling me about drownings (he DROWNED AND DIED, well, they revived him and he's perfectly fine now. Or... my friend's baby drowned and, yes, really is dead and buried) I always think, yes, I can listen and be objective... but alas, I can't. At some point, usually after I've started weeping, I have to say, "You'll have to talk to someone else about this. It is just too close to home for me. (When it is the actual person that has had this tragedy, I can listen empathetically and do just fine. It is the 2nd, 3rd, 4th hand drama that hits home at my little scabby-spot) Then I get to deal with the grief all over again. Do I lack faith? No, I have complete faith in a glorious resurrection and the fact that I will be with my Tony and Amanda again. But that faith doesn't negate the fact that I miss them.

So back to the Spinach Salad (or the cake or pie or cinnamon rolls). I just don't think it is about that recipe (or whatever). It is the "I am upset about all of the adversity I have in my life right now that most people have no idea I deal with on a daily basis" that is the crux of the matter. But most of us guard that little tender scabby-spot... it's just too hard to even look at it. So we will be upset about that recipe instead. I've learned that I just don't react to those things any more (truly, it isn't all about me!!), but I say. "I know she has something going on and I can just love her anyway" and let her have her way. Wouldn't it be a happier place if we could all remember this?

So now for the comic relief (must... have... comic... relief). I think (hope) that most of my friends and family will want to have one of these dandy cookbooks loaded with wonderful (and sometimes closely guarded) recipes and, well, that fact that I have designed the cover is just an extra bonus!~

So I said to my bestest-friend, Pauline (who does NOT cook). "I was going to get you a cookbook but I don't think you would use it."

P queried, "How much will the cost?" I told her $10-11 a piece.

Without even missing a beat she replied, "Then just send me the money!!"