I had a wonderful dinner with my family this weekend, and my side dish was cole slaw. This is what arrived on my plate. I was not expecting pink cole slaw at all. I took a bite and liked it, took another bit and began deciphering the ingredients, and the third bite was a surprise. It was unexpected and the different color threw me off a bit. Honestly, I ended up leaving most of it on my plate. I had other family members who reacted the same way, and they too left a portion on their plate. When we were driving home we talked about it. The onions were too strong and the texture was rather strange. It wasn’t what we were expecting, and we ended up not caring for it. But we did not let it interfere with our celebrations. We set it to the side and moved on. The rest of the meal was excellent, and we enjoyed the other food and the company. We laughed, we told stories, we celebrated the multiple birthdays and even had yummy desserts.
Sometimes life is about how you handle the side dishes. We don’t always get what we are expecting. We think we know what is coming, and when it arrives it is completely different than what we expected. It may throw us for a loop, agitate us, it may disappoint us, it may even bring out our dark side. The point is to focus on what we do like and leave the rest behind. Kind of like the grocery store – take what you need, leave the rest for another day. No point in letting the minor side dish disappointment and ruin the whole meal.
This cole slaw reminded me to focus on the main dish, not the side dish. Pick your battles and leave the rest on the curb. We don’t always get what we want, we get what life serves up. You either eat it, send it back, or leave it on your plate. How you react is the important part…
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