Lunch Today

As I sat down for lunch today I thought about something. Although we live a simple life style on a little homestead, we are not just country bumpkins.
I admittedly love the finer things in life, like fine china, beautiful lace, silver, fresh flowers around me, fine perfumes, going to a classical concert and good art. However, I learned long ago, that buying everything you see that you like is much like eating a whole box of chocolates, there is a three second rule. What you taste in the first three seconds is what gives you the pleasure. The rest is just eating without much pleasure. Same as in buying and acquiring. After a while, the thrill of owning something you adored can be gone. Things become just that, another thing.
So now I think about what I buy and buy only when I know the item will give joy for a long time. But there are things we can do for ourselves that are special and make us feel good without costing us an arm and a leg and is indeed one of the finer things in life. It costs nothing to have a lovely lunch set for yourself. It doesn't matter if you are the only one home. Don't just eat on the run. Sit, listen to some wonderful music. Eat deliberately. Take you time to savor the food. Give yourself a pretty glass to drink out of. Use a pretty cloth napkin. I did this even when my children were small and they were delightful meal time companions. It was such an opportunity to teach manners without having to hound them at the evening meal.
Today I had Organic baby greens with herbs, grape tomatoes, garlic crotons, a bit of the fresh baguette I bought this morning, some Laughing Cow cheese, and of course coffee, Green Mountain, Rain Forest made just how I love it, in my French Press. It was just for me, this little noon reprieve from the hum drum of the day.
No grabbing a sandwich on the run for me, but a true lunch which gave me time to sit and enjoy the moment.