As I reflect on my day, I've found there is a clear correlation between my mood and my food.
This morning, as nearly every morning, I have this clear plan in my head to get up and jog. That is why for over a year now my alarm goes off at 5:45am and continues to buzz until 7:00am. Now some mornings, I have that dream. You know which one. The one where you get up, shower, brush your teeth, and have a relaxing morning and leave for work. Then as the door closes you startle to wake up realizing you haven't really done any of those things and you must start all over, only this time you've overslept.
Today was not that morning. I knew very good and well that I was awake and instead of getting up to jog, I was just lying there. Somehow in the midst of thinking about how I should jog before church , I realize that I've missed my window and I am running late for church. Kyle is supposed to give me an occasional shout out of our countdown to keep me on schedule. However he forgets this but informs me that we need to go now because by the time I "dilly daddle" my way to the door it will be time to leave. As I'm walking out the door, I tell him that I don't "dilly daddle". Shortly followed by "Oh but I forgot to grab my Bible and I think I need to pee." He's waiting in the car while I'm mumbling something about him playing video games and not making me a cup of coffee. By the time we get home from church I'm hungry and tired and in a great mood for an argument.
Argument resolved and we decide to head to Illinois to swap my car back with my family and take a hike to Garden of the Gods. We fill up with gas and grab McDonald's on the way out of town. As we order, I clearly state that I want a classic grilled sandwich. As we're heading off, I open the bag and my little cardboard box says crispy not grilled. And what is in the box? None other than a crispy sandwich. A demon rushes into my body and has a full-on 2 year old child tantrum. It sounded something like "CRISPY?!! I SAID GRILLED!!" Then a noise,sounding somewhere between a lion's roar and a train whistle, came out of my small, ladylike mouth. It was accompanied by a full body shudder and my hands raised in fists. I'm not sure exactly what came over me. Kyle said he has never seen anything like it. Maybe it was years of getting lettuce put on my food, when I request otherwise,or maybe it was the lack of food in my system. I"m not sure, but as I'm going on and on about crispy chicken making me sick, and how easy it must be to read a screen and put what the screen says into a bag, Kyle turns around and waits in the car while I walk back into McDonalds. Now, I'm a polite person, so I walk in and calmly ask to get the grilled sandwich I ordered. The manager, very nicely asks her cook to make me another one, apologizes and I say "No problem" and prance happily to the car with my grilled chicken.
As the day wears on, we reach a point where we are debating our supper. Sometimes this is an argument in itself. We decide to go to Outback since we have a giftcard. I am a little nervous. What if something goes wrong and my tantrum goes public? What if they put lettuce on my food? Our waitress is very nice and substitutes green beans for me instead of seasonal veggies, which in most cases is broccoli that I choke down because I paid for it. My steak is cooked to perfection, my green beans are steamed fresh, and my baked potato is delicious. I purposely save half of my steak and green beans and a little corner of my potato so I can take them home and enjoy them for lunch tomorrow. As we're driving home into the sunset, Kyle gives me a huge grin as my hair blows in the wind from our doorless Jeep and I sit clutching my small take home container for dear life. I close my eyes and soak in the happy ending to my day.
