This has always been a non-denominational holiday for me, filled with loving appreciation of the family and friends that form the fabric of my life. Over the past decade or so, I’ve settled into a routine regarding the menu for the day and in a few hours I’ll be doing the non-dairy version of roast Cornish hens, mounds and mounds of mashed potatoes and steamed veggies. And since I’m driving the menu, I’m roasting a fillet of rainbow trout for me. Looks like all the kids (except Tim who’s in Florida) will be here for the event. I’m glad Sammy got back from NYC in time for this.
In this household “Canadian” Thanksgiving is only part of the story. KJ does her version of dinner on the “American” version of the day with one big bird instead of a bunch of little ones 
Other than that, I’ve spent some time today purging my contact lists. There’s really no point in following folks I “worked” with but never met over the course of five years at BR- those contacts were for business purposes only and I’m not involved in that business any longer. There’s been a kind of “lag time” for me to acknowledge the extent to which my death changed my life 
Monthly Archives: October 2010
Some Housekeeping
No big deal, but I had been “maintaining” (and I use the word very loosely) a WordPress blog at http://thereisagift.wordpress.com/. Just a few entries, from shortly after leaving the hospital, but of nostalgic importance to me if only because they demonstrated my burning desire to “get past” my brain damage.
In hindsight, that was an unrealistic ambition, symptomatic of my lack of insight into the fundamental nature of the damage I had incurred. The simple process of integrating my disparate reflections from past and present gives me some hope that this is indeed a process worth pursuing. I have spent my life, as I remember it, pursuing goals with attached deadlines and reasonably clear paths.
What I am learning now, reluctantly, is to accept each day as it comes, with joy and hope, without forcing my expectations upon the day.
So I’ve imported those entries from there to here, and will probably eliminate the originals in a few days. Like I said, no big deal.
Food, food, food?
Like many people I know, though I enjoy food, both eating it and cooking it, I’ve never given it a LOT of thought. I knew what I liked, I vaguely understood that there were healthy and unhealthy foods available, and thinking about it pretty much stopped there.
Once you’ve experienced a heart attack, food takes on a more technical and detailed face. I’m currently in the process of adjusting myself to eat between 5 and 6 small meals a day in order to stimulate my metabolism and gradually reduce my “steady-state” weight.
I recognize that I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the complexity of the relationship between health and diet and I’m torn in hundreds of different directions about what details I should be focusing on. Still, when all is said and done, it invariably boils down to the simple question: What will I eat today?
Apparently, what I’ve been doing lately has been working, in that I’ve officially lost five pounds in the past month, but I still don’t have a sense that I’ve “mastered” this critical health issue.
Butter vs. margarine? Vegetables cooked or raw? Meat or fish? Dairy or soy? I don’t have the answers yet, but, as always, the first step is to start asking the right questions.
These musings were inspired by an email from the Heart and Stroke Foundation, particularly the article at http://www.heartandstroke.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ikIQLcMWJtE&b=4869055&ct=8657323.