Almonds and string cheese

It’s Monday night.  Post-work in a rare spurt of energy, I’ve gone to yoga, done my laundry, hit the grocery store and made a beer-cheese bread (with manchego and jalapenos).  As the title of the post suggests, dinner was almonds and string cheese (with some Zinfandel).  I did have some hummus and pita earlier, so the dinner was my dynamic than you think!

Sometime between laundry runs and bread-making, I caught the cat (Yota) staring longingly at her catnip worm (see below).  I was overwhelmed because the sight of her summed up how I feel lately: longing.  A longing for…many things (not catnip or worms).  Longing creates a void that is not easily filled.

 

I’ve recently come across these two quotes about longing that stuck:

• If some longing goes unmet, don't be astonished. We call that Life. (Anna Freud)
• People of this world are deluded. They're always longing for something - always, in a word, seeking. (Bodhidharma)

I can buy this, that I am seeking, deluded, and just experiencing life.  Don’t we all long for something?  For some it’s birthday cake or a new computer or a car stereo, for others it’s a child.  Big and small, the sense of longing pervades life.  Doesn’t it?

I long to know the wisdom of the Druid hamster…