…a quazi life

To me with love and chocolate.
I’m now living my own version of starving writer. Meals are no longer a relaxing sit-down affair. I savor scraps like a starving scavenger. I lap morsels from plates as I clear breakfast to prepare lunch and wash the lunch dishes to free up spoons and forks for dinner. It’s been weeks, and I‘m still cataloging the journal (after I check on a child, call the husband, fling the bread in the oven, dash upstairs, play another game of Candyland,[1] toss in a load of wash and fold the last one).

Reality Bite: Chocolate. It’s profound and I’m noting it here so I’ll never forget.

The most important coping mechanism that I learned from my mother, is the phrase “That’s Life.” It is her way of saying, “Just get over it and move on.” I remember Mom using the phrase, “That’s life” to end our lively, yet futile debates. We took aim and lobbed off a few stray test rounds, but before we could really hone in on the target, with the subtlety and panache of a sniper, she shot from her arsenal two words and just like that, the issue was dead.

“That’s Life,” were the profound words that meant, “That’s just the way things are,” “Get over it” and finally, “I’m not discussing this with you any longer!”

I’m finally getting it. It’s taken me over thirty years and a lifetime of self-inflicted wounds to realize the significance of those two words. “That’s Life”—the secret to all of life’s mysteries and the answer to life’s deepest questions. Life is not fair; not even, nor equal. So get over it, adapt and amidst the confusion, laugh and make the best of it.

To me,
Today, I slipped to the end of my rebuttal rope and was swinging near to breaking. The words “That’s hard, tough luck, and too bad,” dangled near, but I grasped the old stand-by, “That’s Life!” The sage wisdom of that two-word phrase carried me through the tumult and put an end to the bitter banter.

Reality Bite: I am indebted yet again to Mom.

[1] Note to self: Research trademark laws and investigate possible product placement.