#firstworldprobs

Hi friends,

I have been up for a couple of hours this morning and I can't decide what to eat for breakfast. I think it's a dilemma a lot of us 40+ people have: finding food that gives you the most bang for the buck nutritionally, so that you don't overspend your daily allotment of calories and keeps you full until lunch. But I also want it to taste good so I'm staring into my pantry.

I'm also grumbling to myself about the jeans that I'm wearing, because they would be a lot more comfortable if I lost 5 pounds, which is what started this whole breakfast debate. And the psychic grumbling over my jeans reminds me that I definitely want to go online and continue my search for the PERFECT dress to wear this Fall, because I want something that will be comfortable, figure-flattering and fashion-forward. It's an elusive garment, and I think it's the thrill of the hunt that keeps me going, because I never find just the right one.

Inevitably, while I'm shopping in cyberspace, I decide to look at one of the many "Old Houses" websites that exist to find the perfect house in just the right state of disrepair(read: most of the work is done and it's not going to fall down anytime soon)that would perfectly showcase my mishmash of kidart and family heirlooms. Which leads me to looking for jobs in whatever corner of the Northeast I've found the latest 300-year-old saltbox--do I want to manage a Dollar General in downeast Maine?--and that reminds me I need to get a haircut because no one would hire a girl with a bird's nest on her head. Of course, I've got to go check out Pinterest for a new stylish cut and while I'm there, I'll see all of the awesome suggestions Pinterest has for my boards...and you get the idea. Before I know it, my morning is gone and I've moved my whole life into cyberspace and out of reality.

Why? Why do I love this imaginary world? Probably because my real life has too-tight jeans and kid murals ON EVERY WALL and 100% humidity and bickering children and doughnuts with lots of calories. Also, because my life is incredibly easy, and I have time to do all of this daydreaming. I am not out on the street in my too tight jeans and 100% humidity, searching for my next meal. I am not living in a trash dump with my family foraging for everything or cooking in a wood-burning stove or hanging out at the unemployment office or at the food pantry.

I'm in my air-conditioned, well-stocked, comfortable home dreaming about an imaginary life. I have healthy, intelligent children who are capable of drawing on the walls and coming up with new and imaginative insults for each other. I have a job and a husband and two dogs and a family and all the things many, many people dream of and I'm living in a fantasy world. Huh.

Clearly, I've got to work on on my perspective. This is not a new concept to me. I work on it ALL THE TIME. I think it is, in fact, my big lesson to learn. I will need your help, so next time I'm bitching about not finding the perfect dress or about the many choices I have for breakfast, pinch me. Please.

I'm getting up from the computer now and having a real conversation with one of my charming children.

Love,
Corks

PS. In case you were wondering, I ended up making oatmeal topped with a very ripe peach.