Counting Favorite Yummy Foods: A Way to Combat Despair

Remember the feeling of Mom ripping the Band-aid off your knee? Or the burning of the yellow soap (betadine) they used in the hospital emergency room to clean your cuts? Hoo boy, that stung! Some of us are suffering ongoing pain that dwarfs those hurts as daily we watch opportunities and protections Americans struggled and sacrificed to create being summarily cancelled by our wealthy “leaders.” We empathize with baby chicks that are dumped into shredders. (Check out the documentary Food, Inc.) The American middle class is being treated as fertilizer—only a few of us haven’t realized it yet.

But I’m not here today to bemoan our situation further. I believe that if you don’t like something, do what you can to change it or submit gracefully. (I’m not big on submission. See last week’s blog post “Oh Crap! It’s Time to Wake Up.”) In the meantime, however, we who feel belittled must survive as intact as possible. We must rally our resilience and good humor.

The other night I concluded that I need new ways to combat my sense of failure. I labored the many years of my professional life with the solid intention of doing my part to make the world better. What I see happening around me isn’t better (kinder or wiser). Instead of reaping rewards, because of my age and income bracket, I’m currently considered a waste of resources—as are most of the people with whom I’ve lived and worked. No wonder I’m flirting with despair.

When I couldn’t relax enough to go to sleep, I decided to focus on gratitude. I started reminding myself of all the good times I’ve enjoyed in my lifetime. Thinking of happier days and sunnier places makes me smile. I decided to choose favorite foods from some of the locations I’ve visited to recall sensory memories. What foods would you list? Where did you find them? Here are a few of mine:

• Italian Food: Maggiano’s in Boston, MA
• Shrimp Po’ Boy: Tipsy Tuna in Placencia, Belize
• Pizza: in Quebec City, Canada and at the Singing Sands Resort in Belize
• Paella: on the Costa del Sol in Spain
• Huevos Rancheros: La Fonda in Santa Fe, NM
• Saag Paneer: Little Nepal in Colorado Springs
• Steak: Whiskey Creek Woodfire Grill in North Platte, NE
• Vegetarian Quesadilla: Weck’s in Farmington, NM
• Croissants and Filet Mignon w/Blue Cheese: Tivoli Deer (gone now) in Kittredge, CO
• Seafood: Fishwife Seafood in Monterey, CA
• Homemade Ice Cream: Balmoral, Scotland
• Fresh Strawberries: Alpena, MI
• Red Curry Bowl: Puukaow Thai in Pueblo West, CO
• Chicken Molė: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
• Jägerschinitzel: Edelweiss Restaurant in Colorado Springs, CO
• Vietnamese Pho: Pho Basil in Pueblo, CO

Wow! My life has been less mundane than I thought! The memories tied to these foods help me regain my presence. With so much happiness buoying me, I have no right to complain about clouds gathering on my future. I can weather even this storm. I’ve been treated to a delicious past—and I haven’t yet added up all the wonderful people I’ve encountered or experiences we created together. I’ll save that list for another night. Climbing out of this hole may take a while.