Day 10 – Lisa, The Comeback Tour and The Farewell Tour in one day

My youngest son broke both wrists a couple of months ago.  He plays volleyball and in the first game of the first tournament of the season he fell backwards and broke both wrists at once.  He continued to play until the end of that match but  that’s another story.  Today was the start of his volleyball Comeback Tour.  We left our house at 7 a.m. to shlep an hour in 2,000 below zero temperature an to a freezing cold gym for him to make his triumphant comeback.

At the same time my oldest son is packing up and preparing for his Farewell Tour back to college.  In our family any tour, celebration, sad situation, a Bulls win, or the end of a dreadful Bear’s season is cause for dinners out.  Tonight was no exception.  We hit the neighborhood Italian joint, Philly G’s, for some really good Comeback and Farewell Tour fare.

Interestingly enough because I was mother of the century this morning during the Comeback Tour, I felt zero guilt at the Philly G’s Farewell Tour dinner.  So there’s that.

Day 8 – Lisa’s Analysis

How about a little psychology and life coaching with dinner?  Yesterday one of our co-writers noticed that most of us seemed to have a little guilt wrapped up in our dinner discussions.  I was completely offended because . . . well the truth hurts.  Guilt doesn’t sit well with me.  It’s one of the most common issues that I work on with clients.  My standard policy around guilt is to either use it or lose it.

Either use guilt to make some changes in your life or let it go.  It’s useless otherwise.  So how will I use it regarding dinners with my family and this blog?  Honestly, I’m not sure yet but it seems that part of the work of this blog is life work.  The same co-writer also suggested that the blog might be therapeutic and that certainly seems to be the case.

Guilt certainly doesn’t feel right when gratitude seems in order.  How lucky am I to have access to lots of good food, money to pay for it, and a nice warm house to cook it in or bring it home to?  And, how unhelpful to my family fun factor to feel guilty when I’m feeding my family a perfectly reasonable meal even if I didn’t cook it?  Deep thoughts by Lisa Kaplin provided free of charge.

Anyway, I cooked a great dinner tonight!  Yep, I took chicken out of the freezer and I used it.  Today.  I made a simple but yummy chicken parmesan (see pic) and a veggie stir fry of brussel sprouts, mushrooms, and onions (see pic).  My family raved, my husband cleaned up, and all is well.  Except for the fact that it’s 2,000 degrees below zero.