Raytchaelle

I took a 3 day weekend because my family is visiting. I never had any idea so many things would happen that went beyond the plans I had made.

First we had planned to go to Big Surf on Friday afternoon… well the weather had other ideas. It ended up raining and we had to come up with something else to do. So we went to a new Japanese sushi place that opened up in town. I have to say, I hate all seafood with the possible exception of Tuna. But it’s good to try new things right? So we all met there without any idea what to really expect. The only member of the family that has any real experience with sushi is my brother… he’s been living in LA for many years and apparently it’s all over the place out there. Anyway, we get there and they had it decorated beautifully… the place used to be a KFC and it looks 100% better now. We sit down and look at the menu and I’m wondering what is Jamie going to eat? What am I going to eat? I was a little apprehensive… so my Aunt and I decided to split a dish that’s also popular in the Korean restraunts we like and everyone else picked out appatizers and sushi rolls. Actually, I picked out the one for Jeff to try called the “heart attack”… it has jalapenos in it. They started bringing things out. Pot stickers… yummy… raw salmon… Dad kept refusing to try it on the basis that he doesn’t like salmon. Gabe kept saying it doesn’t actually taste like salmon. So I figured if I try it Dad will have to try it… Gabe’s right… it doesn’t taste like salmon… it was an odd flavor. Jamie even took a bite and seemed to like it. There was also fried eele… tasted like liver. I think what really shocked me was that Jamie was so willing to try things. She seemed to fall in love with something, I think it was tempura? (not sure on the spelling)… and we all ate sushi… I have to say it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be, but I’m still not a fan. Gabe insists that I just have to keep trying things out and eventually I’ll find one I do like.

Later that evening something else happened that I hadn’t planned but am glad for. Gabe pissed me off. Without going into too much detail… it had taken a lot to get me to the point where I called him several choice names and stormed off. In the end we had a long talk and I learned something new about my brother… he has a heart and no “brain-to-mouth” filter. Now I have a better understanding of him and he understands that sometimes what he says isn’t always taken the way he meant it. Just an example… one night Jamie was fighting bed time. I got her to agree that if she got drink she would be quiet and go to sleep. It worked… she’s good about keeping her end of a deal so far. Gabe said something about bargaining with a 2 year old and I took it as a criticism of my parenting skills. What’s worse it was a critique from someone who has no kids. When we had our big talk he explained that he meant it as an observation, a comparison of how we were raised… as he put it “by the iron first of the law”.  There was no bargaining with our parents. He went on to say that he’s amazed at how different it is between how we were raised and how I’m raising Jamie… and he thinks it’s awsome that it works. He sees how she’s not afraid of Jeff and I and she’s becoming a polite and well behaved child.  He went on to say that he would never criticize my parenting style/skills since he’s never had kids. He thinks we’re doing a great job with Jamie and he’s also proud of how we’re doing in our marriage and general life. He said if nothing else he at least wants to be the “rich Uncle” who gets to be involved and help out when he can. He was actually afraid that I thought he was rubbing his money in our faces. (He just bought us a top of the line Mac.) So I was able to make him feel better there. I’ve never felt that way. I told him I was proud of him and really genuinly glad  he’s been able to do so well. To make a long story short we came away with a better understanding of the inner workings of each other’s minds. I think it was a huge step in having a better relationship.

All things concidered I came away from this weekend with some new perspectives. The next time someone says something that I might take offense at it might be a good idea to concider that maybe I’m taking it wrong… and just maybe I should ask for some clarification before I get pissed off.

I also learned that if you go to an expensive place to eat you can take some of the sting out of the price as well as the calorie load by taking half of it home. I made two meals out of one steak and baked potato… makes the high price more acceptable, get to have that yummy meal 2 times, and it spreads the calories out more so I didn’t gain as much as I would have if I’d eated it all at once.

Although I did go up a little over this last week I have to remember that I’ve been out of my routine. I have done well not to do any emotional eating… so I need to work on bored eating… I have been making some better choices and although I have had a minor setback it will not derail me. I’ll be back on track shortly and things will improve.