Dance Parties, Stool Samples & Curry

Today my heart and belly are full. I’m trying not to worry about the current state of the world and narrow in on my little corner on 745. It’s easy to get bogged down with feelings of uncertainty about the future.

I decided that ‘play’ needs to be a more essential part of my life and when my dear friends, Sarah & Adam, invited me to Daybreaker LA, I said yes to spontaneity. This was a great event to launch the application of LA to host the Olympics in 2024. #la2024 is so far away. The planning begins now. So back to spontaneity, in the Summary of Brene Brown’s chapter on play and rest. she says, “To rest and play does not mean that you are lazy, weak or unproductive; it means that you value your health, want to take care of yourself and experience the present.” Taking care of myself is something I have to do before I can take care of my family. I have gradually learned this. Very gradually.

I must say that I’ve heard Jason Bentley’s voice so often on Morning Becomes Eclectic that I was star-struck when I saw him for the first time today. He mixed the tunes and we all danced as the sun rose at the Los Angeles Coliseum. (Well, first we engaged in a rigorous intense aerobics class with TONS of lunges, so many lunges, that my poor legs feel like jelly every time I squat to go pee. They’re screamin’ at me, “Joy, what did you do to us! You HATE US!” Uh, really, I’m not to blame quads, it’s been so long since I did lunges, I forgot how much this would hurt you. I am really sorry quads. Really. Really.)
Here’s my wonky video of the infamous, Jason Bentley. (He’s not doing lunges.)

(Joy, why the stool sample in the title, it’s throwin’ me off? ) Well, it just so happens, that our Boy is required to give a sample for an upcoming exam related to stomach pains. Yes, the stool sample jokes are endless and hilarious and ongoing in our house. I reassured Boy that I would take the sample to Lab Corp for him. (I mean, come on, that’s going to be embarrassing for me, and I’m not a vulnerable freshman.) This stool sample event got me thinking, there’s a whole lotta shit out there and sometimes it has to be examined to come up with a solution, a remedy, a treatment. Just sayin’. Right now I’m avoiding, completely, the idea of examining the shit in the world because it feels like the whole world took a giant dump at the same time, but (*butt, hee hee, couldn’t help it), to come up with a solution, that’s what we must do, look at it closely. No one wants to, but it must be done to find out what’s wrong and fix it. (Joy, you got all that from a stool sample? Yes, yes I did.)

Finally, the curry. My family LOVES yellow curry. Steve & I, Boy, Middle, and Little, every last one of us. We’ll go for curry any chance we get. Thursdays are our one night to eat together as a family. (I know we should do it more, but we don’t.) I try to make really tasty new meals on Thursdays. I made lamb curry a few weeks ago and this week I tried to replicate the yellow curry from Rosie Thai. It was good but really spicy because I mixed a red curry paste with the yellow curry. I need to make my own yellow curry paste next time, but it was way more time than I wanted to commit to today. For now, the yellow/red curry filled our bellies, and we chatted while we talked about our highs and lows of the day.

Life. Love. Curry. I’m thankful for these little people at the table and my partner in life. Gosh. **Gush.** Life is good.

Yellow Curry Recipe adapted.