For the Love of Good Eating

There is no time of year I truly dread more than Thanksgiving week. Not only am I forced to see family, but it also means twice the work at the shipping depot.

Tomorrow I'll be going home for Thanksgiving and, as one might expect, I'm not looking forward to it. The long drive to Brooklyn and back, the lost wages from not working the holiday, and to spend it pretending to be a real family to people I don't know or care about. Ugh. That blasted Anita keeps trying to set me up with her friend's daughter and I'm really getting tired of the same bullshit every year. She did the exact same thing in 2012 and I told her to stop, but I'm noticing a pattern where she feels it's okay to ignore what I say because she's my mom. I shouldn't even go, but my dad Alan is having Jollof rice made. Plus, I'm gonna stop by Brooklyn Mike's house and get his recipe for gravy. That will make my weekend rice taste so much better, as I've had an awful time making gravy myself.

Last week was also the beginning of peak season at the shipping depot. More trucks, more package handlers, and more stress. And yet, for some reason, I did fine. Whenever things got busy, my body held up very well. The weekends are the worst because I have to do the job of two people by myself for 12 straight hours. But I did it this weekend with relative ease. And I think it might be because of the way I eat food now. I no longer have food prepared for me by restaurants or fast food joints. My body is the healthiest it's been in over a decade, thanks to eating good foods I make at home. If this is the first peak season that I'm eating homemade food consistently, could this also be the first peak season where I don't have to complain about everything? I remember last year's peak season was absolute hell, as I had trouble keeping up with the faster pace and higher volume of work. But maybe this year will be different.

So I'm going to go through the horror of Thanksgiving primarily because of my love for food. And I think I'll have a better time this peak season thanks to my new direction in food choices and preparation. Food is still a big part part of my life but, now that I'm gaining control over what I eat, having food as a big part of my life is becoming a good thing. Go fig...