"Bloomin' Onions" and Weddings: One of these made me cry

January 4, 2014 - The Tenth Day of Christmas

I was about to settle in to a day of organizing last Thursday - always a good way to begin a new year. I checked Facebook for the 33rd time (more or less) and found a plea from a friend for two people to join her at an Outback Restaurant. They were giving away free Bloomin' Onions with purchase because LSU had won the Outback Bowl the day before. Only one other friend had responded so I quickly volunteered. We agreed to meet at the Outback Restaurant in Vista at 12:30 pm. I hadn't cleaned myself up since I expected to stay in for my organization project, but I sprang into action. 

I checked the directions on Mapquest by the address given to me. I felt like I was driving too far north of Vista, but the timing seemed right so I kept going. I turned off the freeway, twisted and turned down a country road, and finally found a piece of Vista at the end. Trepidation set in at this point since I always get lost when I go to Vista - except if I'm going to the Court Complex. I am familiar with how to get there, as well as Palomar College, but anything beyond those locations takes me outside of my comfort zone. Mapquest did not take me where I wanted to go in this instance. Not even close.

I got lost. It took an extra 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to find my way to the huge shopping center and the Outback Restaurant. I needn't have worried, however. The restaurant didn't open until 4 pm. Ah, way early, but my friends were waiting for me (patiently, I think). Fortunately, we were all happy to find a huge Barnes & Noble nearby. This semi-relieved my angst of wandering aimlessly when I had planned a morning of constructive busy-ness. 

Then, I remembered that a part of the pleasure of consuming a Bloomin' Onion on this particular day was being in the company of two friends who also found themselves at loose ends quite unexpectedly. We shared stories, laughed, and found community in our love of books and a variety of other B&N merchandise. We otherwise just enjoyed exploring Barnes & Noble. 

At 4 pm, we were delighted to find ourselves to be among the first 10 people seated at Outback when it opened. Our waiter was quick to submit our order for the Bloomin' Onion and brought our drinks quickly. I ordered a house salad as my purchase. Good thing! The Bloomin' Onion is such a delicious slug-fest of grease. We all knew it and we all ate it with vigor!

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Television programming has been mostly uninteresting since before New Year's Day. My opinion. Today was no different. I found a series of Walton Family movies on the Hallmark and decided they were better than blood and guts, and other nonsense - again, my opinion. I can read and think while watching Walton Family movies. They are easy to digest.

What grabbed my attention were the weddings. Three Walton weddings in a row. Once again, I confronted something in myself that I've never really understood. I cry at other people's weddings regardless of whether I know the people, if it's a Walton Wedding, or even if it's a commercial featuring a wedding ceremony. I never cried at my own. 

I wonder about this. I've always loved weddings, but why the intense emotion? Is it because my hopes were dashed by divorce? No, because at 16 I choked up watching a wedding of complete strangers.  Is it the dream or hope of a fairy tale? I have no desire to remarry so that thought does not occupy any space in my mind. The tears are certainly not for lack of being married. Maybe it's just because weddings are such beautiful ceremonies, a very moving event when two people commit themselves to each other for ever. At least, that's the way it's supposed to be. I may never understand the deep feelings that cause my weepiness at weddings - perhaps it doesn’t matter.

Not one tear welled up while eating the Bloomin' Onion though. Glad I didn’t have to cut it up.

New Year, New Commitment

Ecclesiastes 1:9
New International Version (NIV)
"What has been will be again,
    what has been done will be done again;
    there is nothing new under the sun."

...and so it is with this blog it would seem. My intentions last year and the year before (and the year before that) were to write actively here. It didn't happened. It looks like there were approximately 6 months between posts last year. Not acceptable. I do not expect to hold to any particular schedule, but certainly I am committed to posting more often than every 6 months. So, here I go...

On this first day of 2014, I woke up at 4 a.m. but slunk back to sleep until just before 8 a.m. It wasn't a comfortable sleep and I didn't want to get out of bed; however, my two little dogs, Penny and Bridgette, insisted since they had "needs" to be met. I rolled out from under my warm blanket, donned my "dog-walking" clothes, and walked out the door into a very bright sunny day. Both dogs tugged on their leashes as if they were late for an appointment. Maybe they were. I had adopted them a little over a year ago and it has taken all of that time to socialize them. Recently, they've shown affection and interest in people and other dogs, so I decided this would be a good day to give them their first experience at the local dog park.

Bridgette was the femme fatale of the Poway Dog Park today. One slightly larger Wheaten-like Terrier could not keep himself away from her. Bridgette was a bit confused about why that dog kept trying to jump on her back but never objected. She looked around at people as if to say: "Hey, what's going on here?" Eventually, people took turns holding Bridgette to keep her from being accosted. I envisioned the other dog roaming the streets of Poway howling for Bridgette. Penny enjoyed being off-leash for a while but after a few sprints around the field, she hung out close to me. Both dogs, but especially Penny, still show me how grateful they are that I saved them from the shelter. They have turned out to be true gifts to me.

Philomena - the movie
I had wanted to see Philomena for quite a while. In fact, I would be inclined to see just about anything with Judi Dench. She was magnificent once again. I knew the movie was generally about a mother's 50-year search for her son. Oh, but this movie was about so much more - cruelty, grief, but ultimately, forgiveness for the actions of one of the perpetrators and also for Philomena herself. Despite the dark side of the movie, there were moments of unexpected humor. This movie was was based on a true heart wrenching story.

The bookstore
I can't resist browsing a bookstore. I am certain books give off a certain scent that makes them irresistible. This is in addition to the good stories and excellent writing within them, of course. I had received an unexpected gift certificate to Barnes & Noble for Christmas, so since I was near to the store after watching the movie, I had to go in. Christmas merchandise is 50% off, but I wasn't looking for any of that. Just books. On the new paperback table, I found a new novel by Alexander McCall Smith, the entertaining Scottish author. I loved his Isabel Dalhousie series ("The Sunday Philosophy Club") - I think mostly because it is set in Edinburgh, one of the cities of my heart. Smith has several series going, but I have not read a novel of his outside of those series. It is certain to be a great story. Smith is just brilliant with a wonderful sense of humor. I still have a few other books to finish, so I'll try to resist digging into Smith's "Trains & Lovers" for a little while.

I had several ideas about what to do when I got home. The idea that won was buying the ottoman I had seen at Home Goods a couple of days ago. It was on sale for $50 (reduced from $150). It looks great in my living room.

I took Penny and Bridgette for another walk around the familiar complex grounds where we live. I thought about going for a walk on my own (another idea in my head) but at the end of this day it was a choice of a walk or writing this post. This post won.

Hoping 2014 will be a good year for the world and the people who inhabit it. It's nice to have a fresh start whether it comes in yearly, monthly, or daily chunks. My fresh start is my writing on this blog.