Meatloaf

So I spent three and a half hours in the kitchen making meatloaf? This wasn't just any meatloaf, it was Gourmet!! It was made up of three separate and distinct parts, first I had to make the homemade bbq sauce that would be the topping, and then I had to put together the flavorings and binder that would hold the two kinds of meat together and while that was baking I had to make the gravy that would be poured over the top of the finished loaf. At the same time I had to get the garlic mashed potatoes ready and the fresh green beans. Again, my cooking sounds like my life. When is there ever a time you don't have at least three things going at once, at least three distinct parts of life, home, work, family....etc...the main dish, the side dish, salad, dessert (sometimes) When I was finished, my kitchen was in chaos, but oh was it good! My meatloaf, unlike life, had a definite finish, an end so to speak. The meal was served, eaten, enjoyed, over. An hour later even the mess was cleaned up. Life is made up of many ingredients, but it is the collecting of ingredients, the mixing, baking, steaming, boiling of the ingredients that make our lives, not the finished product, we are never "finished" but continue to add ingredients until the final end when there is no more, or maybe, the end is when we are done collecting ingredients and mixing them together. We need to enjoy the mixing and collecting instead of always waiting for the finished product, it will never come...and we will miss the fun and joy of all that is around us if we are always looking to be "done". Waiting for the chaos to clear, waiting for the mess to be cleaned up, waiting for all the ingredients to be added. But back to the meatloaf, the cool thing about this meatloaf is, that while each part has different ingredients, there are certain elements that are shared, things that pull it all together into a whole. Each one complimenting the other, leaving out one part would have left it lacking something. Again, I see how my life is like that, all the different parts, so very different, but with a common thread, complimenting and adding to the other parts, take away one part and life wouldn't be nearly so tasty! As complicated as it seemed to ready the ingredients and put them together it was well worth the effort, I was told it was the best meatloaf they had ever eaten, my daughter said "YUMMY". It is also well worth the effort to gather the right ingredients to make your life "YUMMY" the "best ever". To that end, I have signed up and start my first year of college at the age of 45, adding one more main ingredient to my life to make it richer and better and so much more tasty! So, cheers...have fun collecting your ingredients, mixing them up, and cooking them, but don't forget any, because you don't want a bland meatloaf...or life.