This Is My New Normal...A Revisitation

Beginning in 2008, I was an ‘OG’ blogger. These were the days when you didn’t necessarily have your own URL, but instead had a crazy one like this: http://www.thisismynewnormal.blogspot.com

I blogged for several years and found it as therapeutic as I do now. It was a time when my boy was still small; about five years old; and the skills he’d attained were fleeting at a frightening pace. Today I watch a different type of deterioration and have been finding myself revisiting old photos and movies when Miles could do things I would love for him to be able to do now. Life is so very much about perspective. Funny how things can seem so terribly dire in a moment, but upon reflection you wish you could go back there.

Anyhow, I figured I’d start sharing some old posts I wrote more than a decade ago. Perhaps these are more for me than anyone else, but by documenting them again here it makes the things I can no longer fathom having been true, true if even just on the screen.

And with that, here is a post from July 27, 2008 that I had originally titled ‘Blasphemy and Good Luck.’

Thanks for reading!

Just wanted to share a funny story from our family outing yesterday. M is on the gluten-free/casein-free diet. It's really not so bad when we're at home, but finding an accommodating restaurant where we also don't have to worry about cross contamination can be a challenge. So before setting out on our journey yesterday, my other half looked up potential restaurants to go to in San Francisco. We decided on a lovely cafe called 'Cafe Gratitude.' We go there and it is an all-vegan, raw, organic, gluten-free restaurant. We've hit the jackpot as far as M's diet is concerned. There isn't a single item on the menu that he can't have! I quickly get a gentle slap on the wrist when I try to order the small salad and Thai soup, I am told that 'Here at Cafe Gratitude we like to promote positive affirmations, so you need to order your food as it is titled in the menu.'

'Uh, okay, then I'll have the I am satisfied, I am thankful, and I am rejuvenated.'

He looks toward M who has never once in his life ordered anything for himself, and what does my little man say with perfect eye contact and pronunciation? 'Ummm.....cheeseburger, fries, chicken and hot dog!'

My other half and I about peed ourselves.

He ended up with the quinoa and cashew-nut based 'faux' cheese and freaking devoured it. All in all, it was really delicious food, though I admit that the other half and I did end up going down the street to Pasqual's and ordering an amazing half pepperoni/half mushroom pizza that we greedily devoured on our way home while the boys watched an Elmo video. In other words, they were too enthralled with the dvd to pay attention to the fact that delicious NY-style pizza was being eaten right in front of them. Feeling only slightly guilty about that :)

As for the lucky part of the day...well, it all was, frankly. We successfully went to a children's museum in the beautiful town of Sausalito and drove back across the bridge to S. F. where we walked a few blocks to the restaurant. All of this with very little whining or tantruming. And, seriously, I feel truly blessed to be able to go to a museum within an hour of my home and take a picture with my boys with the Golden Gate bridge in the background. I am LUCKY. I am GRATEFUL. I am BLESSED!

No worries...