I feel like I started TWO new jobs recently…..fourth grade teacher and produce chopper. Both have had their harrowing moments. Both have felt laborious at points. Both have provided times of clarity and purpose. Both have been messy and real. Both have caused me to lose a little weight and sleep. And both have a given me many GREEN moments. Lots of growth, newness, and starting fresh. Luckily with teaching, they still, in 4th grade, smile and hug you and say, “I love you!!!!!!!!” at the end of each day, even when you mess up or things aren’t perfect. With our new eating plan, sadly the the same doesn’t happen audibly. In a way, though, my body is saying it to me subtly….”thank you for starting to care about what you are putting in….and WHY you are consuming it.”.
I think the folks at Sprouts and Trader Joes must be really weirded out by the fact they’ve seen us multiple times, DAILY, but so be it. We’re figuring it out, slowly, but surely.
And the best moments of the week??? Getting the kids involved. Drew will eat any lentil or black bean concoction…..but Alex? Well, that is a little tougher. Earlier this week, we heard the plaintive cries, “Daddy put TOO MUCH SPINACH IN MY SMOOTHIE…..my POOP is….GREEN!”. No doubt, too much info, but we have been laughing about it ever since.
Drew has been helping too and cooking quite a bit. And….clinging to our legs while standing in the kitchen….waiting for his parents to “stop chopping already!!!!!”
To me, this entire process, whether teaching or cooking, truly boils down to an issue of love. Loving one’s work, “co-workers”/4th graders, family, chores, daily/mundane tasks isn’t easy. But love isn’t a stagnant thing that you attain or reach or conquer. It is like a living organism, always moving, changing, reshaping us.
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.”
~Ursula K. LeGuin, The Lathe of Heaven
As we celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday today (and tomorrow as a holiday), seems like a perfect time to think of love…the ACT that love is. The ways that we are called to love in our own spheres, even our own self. A love that doesn’t just “sit there”, but that is “made and remade and made new”.
If you want to watch something to convince you of all of this, take an evening to watch Forks Over Knives.
Watched it last night; watched Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead previously. Would love to talk with you about recipes.
I will watch that, I’ve had 2 people recommend it to me now. I wish you success! I am heading into week 3, not much weight lost but feeling stronger.
[...] (in theory). But over the last 4 weeks we have also jumped into a new eating plan called Eat to Live. The first six weeks involves a vegan diet while eliminating carbs/gluten and sugar. It has [...]