Stay Stay Stay

Dear Friend,

I heard a rumor that you're struggling.  That you're having a hard time hanging on and that you've been thinking that maybe we're all better off without you.

You're wrong.

Hearts heal, and our minds lie to even the best of us.  You need to give yourself the time to sort things out.  The only way to not let time work its magic is if you cut yourself short, so please don't.

The world is a brighter better place with you in it.  Your talent, your intelligence, they're things that need to be shared with the world, and if not the whole wide world, the tiny one here in our community.  Your loss would be greatly felt.  You might feel like an insignificant pebble on the beach sometimes, but if you drop that pebble into a pond it's ripples go on and on and on.

I know that life can feel impossibly hard sometimes, and that the light at the end of the tunnel is often tiny and flickering, but that doesn't mean it isn't there.  Not to sound trite, but things DO get better. It won't be easy, all the best things require work.  Life will never be absolutely perfect, but that only gives you the opportunity to find the beauty in it's imperfections.  There is no magic greater than our ability to adapt and grow, even in shadows.

I feel like we can learn more from failures than successes, we have to teach ourselves how to be better, and our only real competition is the person staring back at us in the mirrors.  You don't have to be better than the person next to you, you have to be better than you were yesterday.

Find an outlet that isn't self destructive, whether that be art, helping others, exploring the world around you, read a book, lose yourself in a movie you've never watched before, spend some time in the great outdoors just watching the world spin around you, look for shapes in the clouds, whatever it takes to calm the voices in your head.

I know you may not be ready to read this, or that it might sound like someone who has no idea what you're going through is just throwing a lot of cliches in your face, but I've treaded shark infested waters myself and was able to swim to shore.  I just want you to know you have someone on your side ready to throw you a life jacket when you feel like you're going under.

You are loved, you are important, the world needs you.

Please stay.

Lauren

Meghan's Grandma's Stuffed Mushrooms

This is the dish that taught me to try foods that scare me.  No really... it's a true story.

Mushrooms have always squicked me out, they make me feel like the other creature in Green Eggs and Ham.. the one who says "I do not like them in a box, with a fox wearing socks."  But much like that creature, after trying them at the urging of my best friend, my palette exploded and I discovered that they aren't so bad, they might even be better with a fox wearing socks.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 pounds of round white mushrooms (I used 2 14oz cartons of "white stuffer mushrooms)
• 16 ounces of cream cheese
• 3 garlic cloves
• 0.5 pound crispy fried bacon (made into small crumbs)
• 0.5 cup of Italian Breadcrumbs
• 3-4 stalks of green onions, chopped
• Parmesan cheese
• Salt/Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Wipe the mushrooms and remove the stems
2. Put cream cheese (it mixes better if it's softened slightly), garlic, green onions, salt and pepper into a bowl and cream.
3. Stuff the mixture that you just made into the mushrooms (I transferred the goop into a gallon sized ziploc bag, cut a tip off, and used it as a piping bag).
4. Dip the mushroom (the goop end) into the breadcrumbs
5. Place on a foiled cookie sheet and set the oven to 350 degrees
6. Bake at temperature for at least 20 minutes (depending on the size of the mushrooms)
7. Remove from the oven and top with Parmesan.

shared with permission from Meghan Field, for more of her tasty recipes check out her blog "Life of Two Fields"

I don't want to be friends...

Early last week I felt like my head was going to explode from a rage aneurysm.

I learned that some people I considered to be decent human beings are racist scum and I learned that someone I've known my entire life puts more value on professional sports than human life. Real winners here folks, real winners.  The big reveal, however, is that I learned that I suffer no fools on social networks, and I feel no loyalty towards people who are toxic. These were mostly people that I don't have much contact with in real life (for good reasons apparently), but I decided history doesn't have to have a stronghold on my future.

For a moment I started drafting a status update to mass post across all my social networks, it went something like this:

• If you are someone who considers yourself to be better than others because of your skin color, national origin, the income bracket you were born into, gender, sexual preference, or any other factor that you have ZERO CONTROL over, kindly get the fuck off my newsfeed.  I don't want to know you.
• If you are someone who equates the Tom Brady/Patriots Super Bowl Scandal with what went on at Penn State and Joe Paterno looking the other way while a member of his coaching staff molested children for decades, see the above paragraph.  You are delusional, misguided, and I don't feel like being updated on your toxic views is something I'm interested in.
• If you think your religion should give you more rights that other people, you're wrong, go away.  You have the freedom of religion, you can believe whatever you want, you don't have the right to force those beliefs on anyone else.
• I'm not limiting your speech, I'm limiting your audience. Say anything you want, just don't expect me to listen to you anymore.

 

After spending a few moments thinking about everything I was going to say, I decided that instead of telling to GTFO, I would let their words and deeds help me decide which weeds need to be pulled from my flower bed.  I'd much rather do the plucking and know exactly why I can't/won't be friends with someone anymore than wonder why someone disappeared off the face of the earth.