Where the Cookies are Fresh, and the Dinner Reheated

Onward with more party prep. I must confess that at this point 90% of it has not been done by me. But I did make a batch of great Chocolate Chip Cookies tonight. I'd take a picture and post it, but that would just be cruel if you aren't coming over on Saturday. (Jefferson, you are always welcome)

But what with Megan (that's my wife) working today, and myself as well, we had leftovers for dinner. Good leftovers, Megan made a very tasty dinner last night that we consumed the remainder of tonight, but still, it was slightly amusing that the cookies were fresh and the dinner was reheated. (Oh, and I don't make roll cookies...only from scratch)

So I've come to realize that we have no sayings for having to make an agonizing decision between two really good options. There is no "between a soft pillow and a comfy chair", or the even better "wads of cash and life of comfort". No, its "rock and a hard place", "up a creek without a paddle", or the cultured (though I'm not going to spell it correctly, so obviously, not so much in my case) "between Scylla and Charibdis". We have many inventive ways to say life sucks, far fewer to say life is awesome.

I find hicks are slightly better at this, even if their sayings make no sense. "Ate smooth up" being one that I know means very good things, but just makes absolutely no sense in any English Language kind of way. Or "six kinds of awesome," that makes sense, but it's fairly plain and mostly just a slighly clever way of saying "really awesome". I think we need a phrase that explains that I have two great options, but I can only pick one. Unfortunately, we never will, because when that happens, we turn it into a bad thing.

"Oh my God!! Woe is me! I must choose between a party with my summer friends or my lifelong, all-but-two-weeks-of-the-year(when I'm with my summer camp friends) friends. This sucks." I'm sorry, no it doesn't. It has it's negative aspects (mainly if you don't chose your all-but-two-weeks-of-the-year friends), but it's a positive conundruum. It's being stuck between Pecan pie and Pumpkin pie. Or between riches and fame (well, okay both of those have real drawbacks, but the world feels they are both great things to have).

We spend so much of our time focusing on what is negative in our lives, that we begin to believe the entirety of our life is negative. The positive moments seem so fleeting, and the negative seem to drag on into eternity. In reality, it's merely the weight of choosing between negative options that causes us to spend so much time thinking and worrying over them. Positives are light and momentary burdens that feel not like burdens at all. If you remember your childhood, most things that seemed like negatives were easily turned into positives.

Can't go outside to play? That just means you can build a fort with chairs and a tablecloth.

Lose your toy? You pick up a stick and have more fun with your sword/cane/gun/baton than you ever had with that toy.

You get in trouble and are sent to your room? You don't spend your time thinking about what you did, no matter what your parents tell you to do. You spend all your time thinking about how great it will be to be able to leave your room again.

Now sometimes life is really hard, and you HAVE to make those tough choices, but let's spend a little more time thinking about the light at the end instead of how deep the hole we are in happens to be. If you're already on your way out, why look back and keep reminding yourself how tough it was to be there. And if you are on your way in, stop and think before you take your next step. Find a friend and see how to get to that light.

Wow that got all sappy and melodramatic, but it's what I feel right now. And I'm not feeling negative, I'm feeling positive. But it is idealism to think that we can always be stuck between the cash and the fabulous prizes.