Recipe for Life

  Just like life, every recipe has an ingredient list.  I was thinking today about what my own recipe would look like.  I think it goes something like this...

1 pound grief

1 pound of hope

1 cup of pull up yer big girl panties

2 cups love

1/2 cup sarcasm

1 cup spontaneity

2 cups joy

3 cups tears (happy and sad)

1 pound of faith

2 pounds of humor

1/2 cup of shut your mouth before you offend someone

and a pinch of family advice

See where I'm going with this? One of my favorite lines is from the song "She Used to Be Mine" by Sara Bareilles is "She's all of this mixed up and baked in a beautiful pie". Kinda fits, considering what I've been through in the past year. 

Last August 30th I lost my husband of 28 years after a brief stay in the ICU.  To say the experience shook me to the core is an understatement.  I think one of my friends put it best when he described it as "catastrophic". 

I had to take that whole recipe and decide what to make with it.  Whether or not to throw in a dash of anger, a pinch of guilt (actually grief brings with it a pound of guilt and anger and regret).  And Fear. Oh yes, Fear with a capitol F. 

I'm not going to go into the whole story - because that is not the focus of this recipe.  I will say that through it all, cooking and recipes and my pets have been my comfort.  And finding new love after having the rug pulled out from under my life; even during the Covid crisis , gives a whole new meaning to comfort food.  Food for the soul. Soulfood. Bread of life. 

Cooking started for me way back when i was a kid growing up in Pennsylvania. My mom taught me.  And her mom taught her.  Simple foods, with a lot of Pennsylvania Dutch influence.  Solid stick-to-the-ribs kinda food.  Made with a whole lotta love.  So I'll be sharing those here with you. 

I'll also be letting you get to know me a little bit better.  I've led an interesting life so far in these fifty years.   My wish is to encourage  you through telling you my story. Some may be practical things that every widow should know, and some may be funny stories of how clumsy I am.  I've always been told my life is a sitcom.  It's true.  I'll be sharing stories of my wonderful husband Terry, a HAM radio guy, and of our four furry kids. Recipes - heck yeah there will be a lot of those.  

Point is, life doesn't end when you're widowed.  Nor should it.  And it IS possible to find yourself and find love, because honestly, you deserve it.  And that is the most important lesson I've learned so far in this one year.  

I'm trying out my recipe for life.  I'm allowed to substitute ingredients.  And sometimes I add too much salt.  But that's the cool thing about recipes, you can try them over and over until you get them right. 

And remember - Life is not a Leftover.