Simple Pleasures

This could be me!

This morning as I hurried to organize my lunch supplies for work, start the coffeemaker, put bread in the toaster and wrangle a bowl of cereal, I remembered, with only minutes to hastily consume my breakfast and still manage to be late for work, that one of my favorite simple pleasures in life is breakfast prepared and eaten at my leisure.

Now, I know what you might say – why don’t I get up earlier or organize my time better?  Well, I suppose I could do that.  That would mean getting to bed a little earlier so I could get enough sleep (which I already don’t) so I could wake up earlier so I could get myself together sooner so I could come down to the kitchen earlier.  That all sounds good but, yeah, don’t see that happening.  I’ve tried that and it doesn’t stick.  I might be good for a few days and keep to that schedule, but I can’t seem to make it a habit.  I seriously think it would mean changing my whole body rhythm, or brain waves, or something.  And anyway, even when I do get up earlier, I still manage to lose time and it all ends up the same.  How does that happen??

So during the school year I hustle in the kitchen and just manage to get a bite before giving my husband a quick embrace and sprinting out the door.

Last year, when I was really in a bad way of running late, I tried the Banana Diet.  Well, that’s what I called it.  I’d grab a banana to eat in the car on my 15-minute commute to work.  (You think that’s horrible – this year it’s only 10 minutes!)  Anyway, I discovered that someone in Japan came up with that idea of a Banana Diet as a way to lose weight.  When I heard that, I was hopeful; maybe I could combine my poor time management with my desire to lose a few pounds!  I could make my morning rush work for me!  Of course, the more I read about the diet, the more I learned that it hadn’t proven to be all that successful.  But I can tell you that one banana will leave you feeling full (it’s the fiber) and energized.  I still like to eat a banana when I’m looking for a quick snack to hold me over.

The time of the year that I (and so many school employees) look forward to is Summer Break.  And the #1 reason I prize that time (after not having to wake up with an alarm clock) is the Leisurely Breakfast.  By definition, the Leisurely Breakfast is not so much about the food as it is about the quality and length of time to eat and relax.  For me, it looks like this:  taking my time to savor my coffee, actually taste my food (rather than shovel it down), and relish the challenge of a crossword puzzle, escape into a captivating tale or actually read my Cooking Light or Smithsonian magazines (instead of just glancing over the titles and photos).  Yes, this is the way breakfast should be!  And for me, it will be this way pretty soon; just a little more than a month to go – I can almost taste it, it’s that close. Oh, happy June!

For now, I will try to improve my time in the morning a little bit – maybe I can push to be five minutes faster – and remind myself that the Leisurely Breakfast, like the morning sun, is on the horizon.  Although, don’t count on me to be getting up with the sun… 😉