I Ran Away to Olive Garden
I am so embarrassed to admit that I have been grumbling a lot lately, and I mean basically every day, a few times a day, Monday through Friday. The truth is, I do not have one thing to grumble about!!! I get to drive JJ to Emerald Coast Theatre each day because she is not in rehab or jail, and let me tell you, that is a blessing worth saying out loud.
But for whatever reason, I have been stretched and tested lately. I walk into my torn-up house, and yes, it is still a house, and yes, I do have working air conditioning, but I also see stuff thrown all over the place. There seems to be an ongoing contest for who can throw the most water bottles on the sofa, under the sofa, beside the sofa, and really anywhere they happen to land.
So today, after I had logged my fifth hour in the car running to and fro, and I was sitting on a squishy wet seat from getting caught in a rainstorm, I decided that when I got home, I would sneak out and go get myself some soup from Olive Garden. Zuppa Toscana, to be exact. And to be honest, getting caught in the rain was kind of fun.
Sometimes all you need is a pause, a reframe, and some hot soup that you did not have to make and did not have to drive very far to get. I really started smiling as I pulled out of the driveway, imagining myself sitting in a corner all by myself, and it was just as glorious as I imagined.
So let’s replay my little running away for just a bit and how it really turned into a blessing. First of all, they sat me in the far quiet corner, which felt like a gift all by itself. I was all by my happy, quiet self with my Kindle, my soup, and the most delightful book, Mister Owita’s Guide to Gardening. Y’all, it is so good that I am filling up a notebook with phrases that catch my heart and my spirit. It is one of those books that feels like it finds places in you that needed a little tending, and I realized that this act of running away was my tending to myself. It was just a small thing to shift me, and it worked wonderfully.
Here are some of the blessings from my little runaway trip to Olive Garden, followed by a dessert of Target. What did I need at Target? You already know the answer. Target will tell you what you need.
At Olive Garden, I got to witness this kind man at the bar chatting with the waitress, and I could tell he was a frequent flyer. It was kind and pleasant and sweet to watch. Then, when I was walking into Target, a man came barreling through the door with a toddler in tow, clearly trying to make it to the bathroom just in time. Some darling kids were talking smack, and when they embarrassingly saw me, I got to ease their minds and tell them they were darling, because they were. And there is the sweetest tall blonde lady at Target, and I need to remember her name, but she has the kindest energy. I made sure to choose her aisle because I wanted to soak some of that up.
So why a note about me running away to Olive Garden? What’s the deal?
First of all, I want to apologize to my mama for all the messes I made and all the trillion places she carried me. All the times she skipped work to watch me do whatever I was doing, all the times I rolled my eyes when she asked me to pick up my room, and God forbid I fold a towel or at the very least pick up a towel.
I would say I am getting what was coming to me, but I am pretty sure God does not work that way. What I do know is that today I was grumbling, and nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to be around a grumbler. Especially me, even if I am the grumblee!!!
So today I started saying out loud all the things I love about my life and all the blessings, and before I knew it, the miles felt shorter, and I found myself grinning at all the water bottles strewn around my house. I wonder if my mom is secretly laughing at me from heaven. At the same time, Hugh is probably saying, “You know, Barbara, her side of the room was a disaster, but she was not a disaster.”
So basically, the running away to Olive Garden was a huge success. Also, I discovered another joy about ordering a small meal. When you do that, you have more money for the tip!!! Winning.
Hopefully, if you are dealing with some aggravations and feeling a little overwhelmed, maybe all it takes is a simple shift and perhaps a quick runaway trip to Olive Garden.
I am trying to remember that all the days I wish away are the very ones I may want to grab back. So for now, I will just try my best to jump over the towels, which is good exercise, and grin at the bottles, knowing they probably have not come close to how crazy I drove my sweet mama!!!
Grateful to all of you!!!
Karen
Ps. I really am sorry Mama!!! I wish I had known.
Pss I am so grateful for all of you.
