The Daily Writes

Traditions

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Every year, my husband and I buck the Thanksgiving trend and go with a tradition we started in 2009. On Thanksgiving day, we’ll usually get some kind of a workout in, then a movie and then our feast is at Shalimar on Polk. Those of you who know Shalimar, know that it is a super dive Indian place. Plastic tables and cups, a slight stickiness to them always. But the food is amazing. Hot, fresh and incredible every time.

Since we had our son the movie has dropped off but we took him to Shalimar last year and he ate up, a boy after his parents hearts.

As we get closer to Christmas, I think back on some of the amazing traditions we had as a family and wonder what I’d like to do for my family now. I’m thinking of bringing back St. Nicholas Day on December 6th. And we’ve already purchased an Advent calendar, though the meaning will be watered down until we sort out how we want to share this with our son. There will be some Christmas cookie making in there, and we’ll try to focus on giving at a very local level. Maybe doing something for our neighbors and friends.

I love traditions and can’t wait to develop some as a family. We’ll keep Shalimar no doubt.

You may get a fish head

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You may get a fish head. And if you do, the dead fish eye will look at you while you eat. This was my thought last night while on a date with my husband for his birthday. We went to our favorite sushi spot and sat at the bar. Because this was a special occasion we gave the chef a few simple parameters (shellfish allergy, no monk fish liver) and asked him to just pick his favorites.

It feels slightly shocking to write this, but sometimes I like to let go of control. On a scale of control freaks, I consider myself around a seven. Of course, that is an average. I can roll with a lot of plans and decisions, which would put me at about a three. But other things, like decisions relating to food when I am hungry or to my child, then I’m a 10.

Regardless, sometimes it is nice to open things up like we do when we go out to sushi. And most of the time we are pleasantly surprised at the culinary delights we experience. Last night was not one of those nights. We did eat a lot of beautiful fish, but some of it just got too…fishy. And in an attempt to do something special, most of our meal came served on the inside of a fish skeleton, with the large head and eye sticking up. I swear that thing was staring at me all night.

Abandon when it comes to certain things can be great. But then again, it may result in a fish head.

Bringing back the garage

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We’re bringing back the garage. In February, we moved our little family from a modern condo on the 7th floor of a downtown building to a single-family home in a quiet neighborhood. It is an adjustment, although we have now fully embraced the “city suburbs”.

We find ourselves enjoying the house, but the room that gets the most use is the garage. We’ve converted the garage into a playroom, tool shop, and adult hang out. We even went so far as to purchase chairs with flip up side tables and drink holders.

The garage door is open often, with us listening to retro music and playing with Luke. Friends come by and we bring the food and drinks down. We have dinner parties, in the garage.

The garage makes community building easier. It harkens back to a simpler time. Every time we have a drink I want to grab a plastic tumbler or a watery beer. We have a garage boom box that doesn’t have a CD player or a USB port (part of what I love about it). IF it did I’d pop in a Van Halen or Bon Jovi Greatest Hits album and all would be right with the world.

Trivial Pursuits

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I cruise Facebook often. It is my go to source for news updates, current events, mom’s forums and just arbitrary and interesting things.

Recently, I’ve become obsessed with taking meaningless quizzes. Somehow, finding out what type of personality I have based on my favorite color is interesting. And seeing who my 80’s movie boyfriend would have been seems like a worthwhile pursuit.

Last night, I was taking a quiz about how well I know big 80’s hair bands. In a rare move, my husband asked what I was doing and moved closer to me so he could join in. Secretly I was excited, I would for sure ace a quiz about hair bands, as this was my go to music as a teen.

When we finished the quiz I scrolled through to find another that my husband would be interested in. The “Do you know everything?” quiz caught my eye. This one would work, my husband knows quite a bit of random facts, and he thinks he knows everything.

We launched in and he easily rattled off the answers. We came to one question about whether you could see the Great Wall of China from space, he answered yes. We were notified that the answer was incorrect. I tried to move on but he was perturbed. We finished the quiz and he was still a dog with a bone on the Great Wall question, although the quiz score, which reported that he did, in fact, know almost everything, momentarily comforted him.

On a Friday, the pursuit of trivial seems like a good idea. As a shout out to prepping the brain for a relaxing weekend, see if this quiz can guess your age with three questions. Or find out your nickname in a past life here.

 

 

It cleaned out the Crap

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My husband’s colonoscopy was excellent for our marriage. How could that be possible? I was anxious for a few days before the procedure, especially considering that he would need to fast for 24 hours prior. My husband with no food is no fun at all.

For the last few months’ things have been rough. Marriage is that way, rolling hills of happiness and contentment mixed with more pronounced cliffs of challenge and frustration. We’ve been in the steep cliff zone for some time now, new baby, grief, work stress, will do that to a team.

So when I read the prep instructions and realized there was a fasting period I thought, perfect, this will make for a good week. I battened down the hatches and prepped for solo care of our child and for a crabby version of the man I married. I was totally caught off guard when not only was he happy, he seemed emotionally lighter (sorry, this word works best). He was sweet, sincere and 100% less combative than he has been for months.

I marveled at him and said, “Wow, you should fast more often”. He laughed but I continued, “Seriously, I think that you’ve cleaned out more than your colon in prep for this. Maybe there was something stuck in your gut that needed to get out.” He looked dubious and said only, “I’m just too weak to resist”.

Whatever the cause, the prep for the colonoscopy reconnected us. I saw a glimpse of us as the more carefree couple we can sometimes be. Next time we hit a sticking point in our relationship, I am going to suggest a fast.