Nobody will admit it when they discover they are in a rut. Nobody will admit it when they are unable or worse yet, unwilling to dig themselves out of a rut. Oh, and nobody will admit it when they would rather have a good roast beef sandwich for dinner than meatloaf.
OK, that last one is only good if the meatloaf is really bad. Dry and bad. Of course you can’t have cold meatloaf sandwiches if you don’t have meatloaf for dinner once in a while. The best part of meatloaf to me? The cold meatloaf sandwiches the next day.
Yes, I will bring this all together. Just keep reading.
I was folding clothes in my living room recently. Just sitting on my couch with the basket on the floor folding pants and towels and, well you know, all the clothes that need to be folded and put back into their assigned places. It was always nice to hear from my other half that he felt lucky to be married to someone who kept his underwear drawer full. I have begun to wash away the reason for this story. Moving on.
While folding the clothes I was watching the same thing I usually watch on my TV. Looking at the whole room from the same seat. Seeing the same dust on the same table at the same angle. It’s not a bad scene. I like my living room. But! Yes a comfortably dusty “but.”
Then I realized I was missing seeing the rest of the room. This was not new to me. I have had this same déjà vu feeling before. It usually comes after I have had company who sees my home for the first time. You know, they see all the things you have seen over and over again, but they see it all for the first time. Then something happens. Well to me anyway. When that happens I get to see the things they see like it was the first time for me too. Because it has been a while since I stopped to see the things I have scattered about my living room and home.
I think this is what happened the other day when I was folding clothes. So I got up and moved my buns to another place, another spot. I saw stuff and colors and yes, dust from a different angle. I got a pillow stuffed under my head and laid on the couch. I put my feet up. Well you would like to think I had some sort of epiphany and saw things truly in a different light. You would be half right.
I did enjoy seeing the angled wall that one day I just painted a very bright color and then sponged another color and then he chose a color and now there are three colors there. I also, though, could not get as comfortable as I get when I sit in MY usual spot on the couch. But I did move. I did get out of my comfort zone and that all encompassing rut that we all seem to fall into occasionally.
That’s where I’m going today. Moving out of the rut. Looking at life around us and not getting too comfortable with the same sights and sounds and dusty spots. And meatloaf.
Even if I do say so myself, I make a mighty good meatloaf. I haven’t made one for a long time because I am use to making all the things that go along with it. Potatoes, gravy, corn, salad. The rut of my meatloaf dinner. Not that meatloaf dinner is a bad thing. If I had people coming to dinner who liked meatloaf I would make it all. Even the wonderful hardboiled egg salad with mayonnaise dressing that my mother made and is a wonderful salad with meatloaf. Or pork chops. But that rut changed today.
Like moving from one spot on the couch to another, I made the meatloaf but only for the meatloaf. Didn’t even put ketchup on it. Just had meatloaf. Not a really well balanced meal. But it was not supposed to be. It was like going to a Mexican restaurant and ordering just the chili rellenos without the rice and beans. I had meatloaf ala carte. It was wonderful. Best of all?
I didn’t have a lot of pans and dishes to do and I have a ton of meatloaf for sandwiches for the rest of the week. And I think I will eat some of them from my very own comfy spot on the couch. Right where I can see out my front window and my fingerprints in the familiar dust on the table across the room.
Trina Machacek lives in Eureka. Her newest book, “They Call Me Weener,” is available on Amazon.com or email her at itybytrina@yahoo.com to find out how to get a signed copy.
