What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what happens in New Orleans, goes home with you. ~ Laurell K Hamilton

It’s ok to just be happy

I’m someone who gets the one-time nature of our life and how quickly it goes by, honestly it’s horrifying to me that I’m a senior citizen. And much like when I asked my 80 year-old granny how old she felt in her mind, I’m still a teenager in my head in many ways. As such, I feel the need to make the most of the time I have, to make my life matter and so when I find myself on my couch just watching movies or shows I have a tendency to get angry with myself for wasting time. It is important though to take time to relax, we can’t go and go all of the time, we burn out. And unfortunately my job is extremely stressful and frustrating so there are far too many times when I just need to check-out in order to stay sane. But I have a hard time with not making that time productive in the larger sense.

This past weekend an old friend and I were catching up and we were wondering if this might not be the craziest time to be alive. There certainly is a lot of madness in this world right now. Enough so that I’ve decided to move my surgery up, a combination of the normal high-level of stress, the extra stress of the current madness and lots of uncertainty around my job. Feels wise to take care of my health issues as soon as possible.

So with all of the madness in our lives and in the larger world it can seem like maybe it’s not ok to be happy, to take time for ourselves, to laugh and enjoy life. And while all of these bigger things are certainly urgent, it’s important we maximize the amount of happiness in our limited time here. So as such, we (and that includes me), need to be ok with taking some time just to do things that make us happy.

One of those things for me is cooking. I fell in love with New Orleans the very first time I was there. I have often said it’s the first place that I ever visited where I felt at home the minute I got there. I’m comfortable in New Orleans, even in the insane summer heat and the rainy winter days at Mardi Gras parades. I also love the food there. At Cochon, their rabbit and dumplings may be the best thing I’ve ever eaten, eating that dish there is a blissful experience for me.

I also love to cook and fusing my love for New Orleans and my love for cooking, one of the things I do is make homemade gumbo. It’s been a learning experience making a roux from scratch is more art than science. I’ve gotten pretty good at making a decent roux and while I don’t eat onions I sub scallions into the mix. Starting with the trinity (onions, peppers and garlic) and a good roux, dumping in andouille sausage, chicken, a little celery and seasoning and then letting it cook is a wonderful experience. I love the process of making the roux, of chopping, cutting and the smell of it all simmering on the stove. I’ve gotten pretty skilled at making a tasty gumbo and it’s almost perfect, what’s missing is good okra. I just can’t find good okra in a grocery store where I live in California. So it’s damn good but I want call it New Orleans quality without the okra.

Taking the time to make a gumbo from scratch definitely puts me in my happy place and the best part, then is that I get to eat it, for a WEEK! So find time to do those things that make you happy, forgive yourself for not being productive for a time, it’s important we take care of ourselves, we need to have happy days my friends. ~ Rev Kane