The Great Turkey Stock Spill of 2012

Yesterday was an amazing stay at home mom day for an adhd mom like me. I was hitting on all cylinders with the help of a few online friends. We kicked butt. I cleared out, cleaned and refilled two very large cabinets in my kitchen. I also cut and placed shelf liner on each of the eight shelves, all while keeping up with my laundry and my other housework. I even cleared the kitchen table enough to have dinner on it and packed up a bin of dishes and cups for my college boy. Remember my cracked plate? That is what started it all. After dinner, I cleaned up the dishes wiped everything down and the kitchen sparkled. Yay me!!

This morning, I was so inspired when I walked into the kitchen, I decided, at 6:35am, to get the turkey stock I’d made on Monday out of the 2nd fridge and bag it up for freezing. I had 15 minutes between my husband and middle son leaving for the day and my youngest son getting up for school. For some insane reason, probably a left over high from yesterday’s uber-success, I thought it would be no problem to get it all four gallons of stock bagged up and in the freezer in 15 minutes, and it would not have been a problem, except one of the bags decided to burp or something and the next thing I knew, I had turkey stock all over my kitchen counter. Really? At 6:40am? It was under my coffee maker and my toaster oven. It looked like it was everywhere. I was ticked. I said a swear word (not the biggie). Stupid bag. That’s the last time I buy bargain bags. Whine. Whine. Whine.

As I started cleaning up, I started wondering how I could turn this into a lesson and a blog post. Again, really? Turkey stock spill as a blog post. I was beginning to think I was delusional until I thought about the lesson in the cracked plate. Could the turkey stock really teach me something? Could there really be a blessing in this? For those who find Pollyanna sickening, you might want to stop reading because I even surprised myself with this one. First off, I had the bag on a cookie sheet. True, the zipper part was hanging over the edge, but over half of the stock was still in the bag. I scooped up the bag and put it in the dish drainer in the sink. Next, as I was wiping down the coffee maker and the toaster oven, which I cleaned out since I had to wipe the outside anyway, I realized the turkey broth didn’t spread out that much because it was cold and slightly congealed. If this had happened on Monday when the stock was liquid, it would have been a much bigger spill and would have probably ruined a few fabric binders I store on my kitchen counter. Finally, as I was scooping the stock off the counter, some of it dripped on the floor and the dog must have thought it was Christmas as she happily lapped up anything that drizzled and dripped her way. What could have been a mood altering event became a lesson in perspective.

I don’t know about anyone else, but sometimes I make a mountain out of a mole hill. Sometimes I let an incident, like spilling stock, someone being rude (at least by my definition), my kids or husband not listening, waiting in line at the store while the person in front of me puts 5 items with no prices at the end of their belt full of groceries instead of at the beginning (the list could go on for pages) affect my entire day. Occasionally, I even let it fester for weeks or months and every time I think of it, I get angry again. Why do I do this? I’m not sure, but the more I write, the more I look for the lesson instead of letting anger, resentment and indignation take over. Maybe it’s the wisdom of age. Maybe my husband’s laid back attitude is finally rubbing off, or maybe, and I suspect it’s a combination of these things and more, I am back to doing what I was born to do, which at this time is to write and take care of my home and family. When I am in that space, it amazes me what serves as inspiration instead of being a catalyst for irritation, aggravation and outright anger.

I honestly believe that each of us is born with unique and incredibly special talents that we are supposed to develop and share with the world. When we do the things we’re put on this Earth to do and live the life we’re destined to live, doors open up. When we develop our God given talents and share them with the world, we feel peace and we create it in the world. Yes, I know there are people who live in poverty and oppression around the world, and perhaps part of their purpose is to inspire those of us with the freedom to live as we choose to step up and change the world so they can develop their talents too.

Ironically, most of us are completely unaware of our best talents, and if we do know what they are, we have no idea how to share them with the world. If you don’t know what your talents are, ask your friends, they’ll tell you. If you have children, they will tell you too, but they will probably be brutally honest so prepare yourself for that. If you have a loving and supportive family, ask them, but remember that most of them have a preconceived notion of you from childhood that may or may not be accurate. Some of you may be incredibly surprised by what you find out. Another way to figure out your talents is to ask yourself what you do that fills you with such joy that you completely forget about time. For me, that is writing and spending time with people I care about even if those people are online.

You see, I am a people person. I enjoy my solitude for meditating, praying and writing, but when I have to attack a project like cleaning cabinets, I work better with help. In my part of the world, you generally don’t invite friends over to help you clean, but I’ve found the next best thing. I found an online community that keeps me focused and provides the encouragement I need to keep growing and moving forward. I’ve never met most of them in person, but they are a constant source of positive peer pressure, and I care for them as much as my “in person” friends. For me, those friends are the difference between floundering and flying, and I am so grateful I live in an era where that is possible. It allows me to move past incidents, like a silly spill, that may have stopped me cold and ruined entire days at a different point in my life. Everyone deserves to be part of a community like that so that the Great Turkey Stock Spill of 2012 is nothing more than a reason to clean out your toaster oven and write a blog post about the blessing of a semi-congealed mess. It is a blessing I wish for each of you to find your purpose in this life and to have the passion, the courage and the support to become everything that you can. Just imagining a world like that will make me smile the entire day. It might even last a week or a month, or maybe we could make a mountain out of that mole hill and wouldn’t that be a beautiful thing? Thanks for being you and have a great day!