Full Waddle

Life is not a spectator sport. If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life.

-Jackie Robinson

I won't be watching someone cook a turkey this year. Oh no. I won't be showing up to someone else's house, plopping my well-toned rear on the couch and heading up to the dining room when dinner is ready. Nah-ah. I won't be ordering from a waiter/waitress at a Manhattan restaurant. Nope, nope, nope...

Instead, for the first time in my life, I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner. With my brother! There is a turkey in my refrigerator along with ingredients to stuff it with (i.e. a quince is a neon yellow fruit, juniper berries are not found in the fruit section but on the spice rack, and bay leaves do in fact exist and were not my typo for basil leaves.). There are sweet potatoes, butternut squash soup (pre-made Trader Joe's for $2.59!), salad materials, and a box of stuffing to prepare. Across town, my brother is making a string bean casserole from scratch. Dessert will be purchased. Why? Remember the owl that used to see how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop? Ok, well that could be me with a bowl of home made dessert batter and I simply do not want to fly down that road.

Hopefully my brother texted my mom to make her asparagus side dish.

Hopefully, hopefully, when I clean the gizzards (?) of the turkey out in a few hours, I won't become so repulsed as to be turned off to the delicious feast we're going to create. I'm optimistic but I may blog again to get through it...

A turkey in a great animal and cooking it is a metaphor for jumping into life! I know a turkey's wings are not made for flying but for frying (let's say in a healthy oil such as olive or cold-pressed unrefined sunflower) and I guess there are more inspiring birds to celebrate but think about it -- turkeys are our meat of choice on a day which celebrates nothing but gratitude and abundance.

I am grateful for the turkey that gave his hormone-free, grass fed life to Murray's before finding his way into my fridge and, if all goes well, onto my table in 24 hours.

As for cooking it, well, yes. This incentive speaks to my wanting to be more involved in life. I'm hardly what you'd call a spectator but there are still things I want to do that I shy away from. This Thanksgiving dinner is a statement of my intention to go all out -- full waddle.

I mean full throttle.

Sometimes we miss the obvious. When it comes to gratitude and abundance, we miss ways to feel good now by focusing on what is lacking in our lives or ourselves, as opposed to what is here. Oh, do we miss the riches. My wise friend shared this with me today:

Maybe you can love fully in this moment

have a full unfettered life

live full out

be fully present to each person and moment in your day

TODAY.

Live today fully alive!

Don't wait in some dead space where your life is on hold.

Ooosh. The dead space where life is on hold. That is harsh! It is cold in there, as opposed to in that warm oven (slow roast at 275 degrees for two hours before removing foil, raise to 375 degrees for about an hour and 45 minutes while basting every 30 min) where you are able to appreciate reality.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Eve!! Talk to you soon. :)

Lindsay