Rutabagas

I have 3 blogs. This post from mentalfloss.com reminded me how I came about the name for one of them. The blog itself is insignificant; full of postings of poems on emotions I seldom express anywhere else. But, I used something of "How to write a manifesto" to come up with its name and first post. 

I needed a place to express some very untoward emotions I was experiencing and some tough times I was going through. "Life handing me lemons" almost fit but not perfectly. There are all kinds of things everyone can come up with about what to do when life hands you lemons: make lemonade, add vodka and stir or make orange juice and wonder how you did it. Lemons lend itself to the connotation of being sour about something and I was far from it. I was lost and confused but not angry about it.

So what had life handed me? Something not easily digestible so lemons were out. I love lemons. Determining it must be a vegetable was easy because sweetness was not what I judged these feelings to hold. I like every vegetable I've ever eaten except one. It's bitterness is not welcomed. Rutabagas. Even as the written word, it is unappealing as it starts with "rut" and ends with "gas." Simply perfect.

But over time, my confusion has subsided. Acceptance and appreciation has set in. As though I have developed a palate for the ugly root, the ugly truth of my emotions is no longer distasteful.  

I will continue to post at Rutabagas because I need the outlet. The recipes I've found to temper what life has handed me have turned out to be more delicious than I could have imagined. Time to cook some more!

To Love Unselfishly

I received this note from myself today I sent some time ago through FutureMe.Org - 

You can love without reciprocation. 

Your happiness is his happiness and that is all that matters. He is happy and do everything in your power to make it stay that way. You are right in doing this. You love completely by doing this. You are happy. You are loved. 

Give him that gift.

It is my mantra because I believe true love is possible only without selfishness. Check your motives of why you love someone. Isn't it because of how they make you feel, what kind of person you are around them and what they do for you? That can be love, but obviously it comes at the price of another person's willingness to give or provide those things to you. True love stands alone, without any influence. Do you feel it?