Look, We're Normal!

We all have excuses for lots of things. Heck, I put off calling to get a copy of my baptismal record for the wedding -- like, consciously delayed it. For awhile I had "too busy" excuses, but those turned into a fearful laziness. I think the more you put something off, the less you want to do it. But, this morning, I finally called and felt the weight lift, especially with how easy it was. Were the excuses worth it? Now that it's done, it doesn't much matter.

But what about the excuses we use regularly? Our excuses yesterday were pretty darn good. One, my sister and BIL were coming over for a quick visit (unexpected but always welcome). Two, we had been doing lots of labor-intensive yard work throughout the morning and early afternoon, and were EXHAUSTED. Third, and most importantly, the cat had been sick all weekend -- new meds. Remember, he's had a rough start with us, and while he's not at 100% he's way better than when we found him.

So, what horrible thing did we do, having such great excuses in our back pockets? *gulp* I sent Dave out to get KFC. Yes, I know how horrible that is for us. Yes, I know how horribly they treat the chickens. Yes, I consider KFC the devil. Yes, yes, yes. But, we had a great coupon and, in all honesty, it was a moment of weakness -- literally! (Mind you...we had a huge haul at the Cooperstown Farmers' Market the day before -- we're evil.)

I mentioned the guilt factor to Dave, who very easily brushed it off, saying, "Yes, we shop at farmers' markets, buy organic when we can, and do our best with all the green stuff. But, it doesn't mean I can't jump off the wagon for the sake of convenience once in awhile. And, we don't do it much." His ease in letting the words flow off his tongue made me feel a hell of a lot better -- and let me enjoy the disgustingly fatty chicken, #1 mac 'n cheese, and buttery biscuits easier.

I've noticed that, since I don't eat junk food as much (the junk I do eat is organic -- pita chips, organic Pop-Tarts -- I consider myself a stage 2 or 3 on the "how healthy are you?" scale), when I DO, I'm more conscious about it. It's less of a "I'm gonna gain weight" thing and more of a "I'm not proud of myself. This is disgusting. This isn't the wonderful stuff I've been giving myself."

Guilt is a human reaction that's just a stone's throw from joy. Generally, when feeling guilt, you're enjoying something that you probably shouldn't be. We all do it -- some guilt is for really bad things, some isn't a huge deal, but what one person thinks is huge may be nothing to the next, and so on. So, in this case, we're moving on. Some day, maybe I'll be so super-human that our future kids won't be allowed to have McDonald's , and our house will be impeccable. You can hope for wonderful things, but in the end, we're all just human. I'm not in this thing to be perfect.