Truth 11:Something People Seem to Compliment you the Most on

Simplify.  Stop bothering with the non-essentials.  Having devoted my life to my work so far, I should reap the harvest and learn how to live the rest of it properly.  It's time now for trees and grass and growing things.

Author Unknown

 Amazingly, these days I get compliments for something I now consider a chore...cooking.  Others often say how much love I put into my food....If they only knew.  It wasn't always this way.  I once LOVED to cook...so much so that a while back I took up some catering courses and worked for awhile with my sister-in-law on weddings.  She did the planning, and I did the cooking.  Hubby never knew what to expect at dinner.  It was always an adventure for him...anywhere from a four-course Chinese meal to homemade noodles and a Polish dish.  And pies, cakes, cookies?  When Christmas came about, I'd spend one night without sleep and bake at least 90 dozen of assorted cookies to give as gifts.   I loved being creative with my food...loved surprising everyone, but that was then and this is now.

But, let's face it, I was almost 20 years younger then and had a great job.  I worked 'out in the field' meaning that we went to the clients; they didn't come to us. The team would have their meeting the morning, we'd get our assignments...usually about 3 or 4 clients in the same area...and then be on our way.  If a client wasn't home, it still counted, so sometimes I was home by 1pm and usually no later than 3 pm. There was plenty of time to cook.  But, great as the hours were, the money was bad, the danger was great because I had to go into some of the worst neighborhoods in Brooklyn, and there was a lot of wear and tear on the body. Eventually I found myself paying out more than I was bringing in so the time came to let the job go and get a job where I had to work real full-time hours.

Nowadays, as most of you know, I shop and cook every two weeks.  Every other Saturday I find myself slaving over the stove cooking and freezing enough meals to keep us until the next payday, and we have a decent meal on the table every night...not as fancy as it once was, but tasty nonetheless.  And don't get me wrong, now.  When I have company, I will still whip up a meal that will make you feel you are dining at one of the fanciest restaurants, but company, too, is few and far between now....

...not that I am complaining.  I'm happy with the quietude of my life right now.  Ah, the simple pleasures that come with age.  Had someone told me 40 years ago that my greatest joy on a Friday night would be arriving home from work,throwing on my flannel jammies, and relaxing in front of the television, I would have told them they were crazy.  Where once I headed for the bright pulsating lights of the city's clubs, now there is nothing more beautiful to me than watching a beautiful sunrise or a sunset, the grace and beauty of the rising Moon, the stars twinkling above...so far, far away,.  Heck, if I had to come home and cook every evening, look how much I would be missing.  

So, yes, people do still compliment me on my cooking.  I guess cooking is one of those things that once you learn how, you never forget. 

To be happy in this world, especially when youth is past, it is necessary
to feel oneself not merely an isolated individual whose day will soon be over,
but part of a stream of life flowing on from the first germ to the remote and unknown future.

Bertrand Russell