Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Sometimes


Somtimes, things don't go like you plan.

At the last minute, my nephew and his wife invited us over for Easter brunch on Sunday. Their son, Aiden, is a year and a half old. Last year, he just wasn't quite old enough to catch the drift. But this year, he celebrated in grand style. He got on to the baskets and hidden eggs. The Peeps and the jelly beans. The talking trucks and sunglasses. He had plenty of people to snatch him up and hold him and squeeze him.

Somtimes, you just have to go with the flow.

And so it was with my Easter smoker. I could have been attached to my vision of how the day should have gone but, I let go and followed the path of least resistance. And you know? Things worked out perfectly...just as the universe intended. A huge storm settled in and kicked up her wicked heels in a wild Fandango. Side ways, sleeting rain, thick and fat, hurtled down from the heavens like Weight Watcher devotees sliding off the wagon. Winds, 30-40 miles per hour, bobbed the trees and bushes aft and fore, pushing the cold along with its blasts. Not the perfect barbecue day that I had planned.

Sometimes, I would've gone ahead and tried to circumvent Mother Nature.

I would have pulled the Weber grill under the eaves of the house, fired up the charcoal, put on my slicker and asserted my will over the fates. But not that day. That day I practiced a surrender that is not among my natural instincts.

Sometimes, my friends have a faith in me that I don't have in myself.

Miss B sent me this e-mail on my last post, Call Her Macaroni:


"Wonderful Easter story. And I know it will carry on with another
paragraph
about...how her lovely daughter continued the barbecue tradition,
even with
horrid rain and wind with temps in the 50's. For, she is the girl who
plants
her flowers, weeds her garden and barbecues in the rain.


Sometimes even I have to wait to do what I want.

To plant my flowers, weed my garden and barbecue, rain or shine, often I have to exercise patience. But I will wait only one day. After that, I will take matters into my own hands. Yesterday I fired up that charcoal kettle. Even if I'd had to put on my hip waders, the Easter barbecue tradition was going to happen.

Sometimes, my friends and family are just the best.

No...make that always!

29 comments:

Jinksy said...

Rain and England are synonymous. Planning is a dirty word...

Brian Miller said...

sometimes its best going with the flow...it all turns out well in the end any way, so...hope you enjoyed the grilling. smiles.

Tess Kincaid said...

I can't wait to start grilling. Gotta get out there today and get the old grill cleaned and fired up!

Ronda Laveen said...

Jinksy: I'll bet you have to do almost everything in the rain. I wonder if grilling is as popular across the pond as it is here in the states.

Brian: Totally enjoyed the barbecue:-) So did Burger, Lettuce and Tomato!

Willow: Yep, time to get the ol' girl ready for some "hot" times.

Jingle said...

nice post,
let it be,
accept what you are given,
everything is fine!

Happy Tuesday!

Jai Joshi said...

I'm glad you're not letting the rain get you down. You go, girl!

Jai

Ronda Laveen said...

Jai: Not one bit!

Dorraine said...

Awww...what a delicious story, Ronda. Spiced with Easter peeps, lovable children and a surrender.

You'll get it all in yet, despite old Mr. weather. Meanwhile you've made this Texas girl smile. As always.

Ronda Laveen said...

Dorraine: Yes, I will get it all in. That's my job. That's what I do:-)

Nessa said...

Sometimes it is so hard to give up our will but when we do it feels so good and the world really does go on just fine when we relax.

Reya Mellicker said...

It's ALWAYS better to go with the flow, to dance in shamanic alignment WITH the flow, unless you're a salmon and it's time to mate. But you aren't and it isn't, so ... well done you!!

Improvisation is the only skill worth cultivating. --Jeremy Taylor, dreamworker and writer.

CiCi said...

You have always seemed like a go with the flow gal to me. So it doesn't surprise me that you would accept the invitation and change plans and do the barbie thing another day. My mouth is watering just thinking of your barbecue fare.

Ronda Laveen said...

Nessa: True that!

Reya: You are so right, I'm not, it isn't and there ya go. I love your shamanic alignment dance it is so perfect for every occasion. Great!!!!! quote, by the way.

TechnoBabe: I am a pretty much go with the flow kinda gal. The barbie doesn't know what day it is, right?

Ze O said...

Haha! Planning is a dirty word! Too funny.
I know some people like that and I had to adjust. It really does work after a while, you know...

Ronda Laveen said...

Christina: That was funny, wasn't it. And yes...it does work:-)

Quite well, actually.

Megan said...

I walked to work in your rainy leftovers, yesterday!

Aren't the little kids the best? My niece and nephew had ONE pink plastic egg (we ate all the real ones) and we must have hid that thing twenty times throughout the day.

Grilling will come. Oh yes. Oh yes, it will.

joanna said...

I would have loved to see that --- "side ways - sleeting rain, thick and fat,hurdled down from the heavens like Weight Watcher devotees sliding off the wagon... That phrase is going to stay with me a very long time. Hope you got your grilling in there Gal,,,,

Joanny

Ronda Laveen said...

Megan: If you walked to work in our stormy leftovers, I'll bet you were soppin' wet. We had quite a storm but, the lake (you know the one, Shasta) is getting real close to being full in I don't know how many years. I'll bet you had a great time hiding that one pink egg for the kiddies. They must be young enough to fool still. Yes, not only will grillin' come, it is here. Oh, yeah. You will have great weather tomorrow. I'm sending it on down to you.

Joanny: The first time I wrote that line it came out a little differently. And then, watching those drops, I had a vision and saw it as clear as rain.

tony said...

Tis Good To Know Mother Nature Could Come To Your Party!

Baino said...

Ah the best laid plans of Mice and Men and Massage Therapists it seems. . it's not the weather or the food, it's the company and a little 'lubrication' helps. Sounds like it all worked out alright on the night! And you Americans are hilarious, you only 'grill' in the summer? C'mon any day's good to throw a shrimp on the barbie!

Mike said...

I have fired up the grill in the rain many times! When you get the urge for charcoal taste, there is no stopping it! LOL Glad that you forged ahead!

Jingle said...

Happy Wednesday!
love your post!

Joanna Jenkins said...

Big sigh. Sometimes it's not easy to just go with the flow but it usually ends up be the only way to go.

Cheer,
jj

Jill from Killeny Glen said...

Guess what!?? We decided to throw out our usual plan of ham and grilled steaks!!!

Go with the flow baby! Hope you had some yummy BBQ Ronda.

JGH said...

The ability to be flexible doesn't always come naturally, does it? I think it's an acquired skill that we get better at as we get older.

I made corned beef instead of ham this year! Nobody complained...

Felicitas said...

Good for you! 'cause REALLY... why fight it? It's just so much easier to go with the flow! And I'm sure you enjoyed your Easter celebration that much more because of it.

Ronda Laveen said...

Tony: Mother nature definitely made it to this party.

Baino: You are right, it is all about the company and lubrication doesn't hurt either.

Otin: Yep, when that urge strikes, sometimes you just have to grill it.

Jingle: happy Wednesday to you 2.

Joanna: Sometimes it's not easy to give up an idea.

Jill: Glad you had a smoker too!

JGH: Wow! You really departed from tradition. In my family, if you complain, you get to do the task. Keeps beefin' to a minimum.

Felicitas: Going with the flow does make life easier. It is a practice of unattachment.

Mrsupole said...

I get in so much trouble because I rarely plan anything. Hubby gets so frustrated with me and he just never learns that things change everyday and you just have to go with the flow. He likes to be somewhere early and I like to get there when I can, well except for planes, trains, and doctor appointments. Only certain things need to be done on a schedule and it has really gotten worse since I quit working. I wake up when I wake up, I eat when I eat, I sleep when I am lucky.

Love is the only absolute in the world. One must love absolutely. If everyone loved everyone then it would be a wonderful world to live in. If everyone went with the flow then maybe they would be able to love everyone because they would be more relaxed. And if some would try to stop controlling everyone then we would be a wonderful world too. Power and greed are par for the course of those control freaks, and control freaks have no idea how to go with the flow.

I think that this is one of the things that made our country so great is that the majority of the people chose to go with the flow and love their fellow man even if they followed a different flow then they followed. I think that the more our government leaders try to control us and try to force us to stop flowing along at our own rate then they are going to see more and more people try to protect their right to go with the flow.

And you know if you get me started on their taxing us to death you know how I feel. They announced today that they are thinking of forcing the Value Added Tax upon us throughout the whole country. If they add this tax then that is it. I will be joining these protests and will then only buy total necessities.

It is bad enough that this state is taxing us to death, but to have the feds add on another 18% is just too much. The feds are nut cases, they want us to "buy things" to keep the economy going and then they want to tax us if we do buy. Seriously they all need to be fired and their freaking retirement privledges taken away. We can say that we need it to lower their necessity for tax increases. I have never disliked our governments as much as now. Greedy, corrupt, controlling freaks that they are.

Firing them and sending them to the back of the unemployment line, that they are doing nothing but making longer, should give us all the greatest pleasure that we have had in a long time. Can you please give me an egg with this wish in it? I now think this is the best egg I could have.

See I just flow on and on with my comments and never know where it is going to take me. Stopping now.

God bless.

Ronda Laveen said...

Sherry: you are a power to be reconed with. I agree that many of those politicians need to experience the things that the rest of us do. They set themselves apart for some reason. Well, in the reason of their best interest. I don't think the founding fathers had that in mind. Here is that egg you wanted. It's an XXXL.