Pan-DAMN-ic; Looking for the brighter side

The pandemic as a teacher? Sure. A crisis is an opportunity for change? Yes.

I’ve always considered myself a realist, tending to see the glass as half empty than full. Some would call that a pessimistic personality, but I’m not entirely convinced of that. I’ve cursed this damned pandemic multiple times and hated the situation’s reality and tragedy. I’ve lost myself in long-term cooking projects, tackling recipes that I’ve literally put on the back burner to wait for that rainy day, which never seems to come. I’ve meditated on food and the process of preparing it while continuing to look for the tiny pinpoint of light at the end of this long, seemingly endless tunnel.

And so, rather than throw my hands up and slide down the slippery slope to depression, which would be extremely easy for me to do, I’ve decided to try to find a sliver of silver lining in this mess, asking myself what I’m grateful for and what I’ve learned from this.

Humor me for a moment as I reiterate some things that have happened because of quarantining that have improved my quality of life.

Having my daughter back home.
Getting to know my stepkids much better.
Painting the ceiling of my front porch sky blue.
Learning to just roll with it.
Writing my blog more frequently.

As always, perhaps more magnified than ever is the intense beauty I continue to see in the extraordinary and complicated wonders of food. For me, this vividly confirms my theory that if nature is still in business, we are too.