A Fork in the Works

I find myself at a crossroads.  This is not unusual for any of us – it is a daily occurrence.  Life’s little happenings continue to happen and we select a path. Our thoughts, actions, decisions and a little happenstance play a role in where we end up at the end of the day.

This crossroad was not one that I actively chose for myself.  Again, not so unusual.  Life likes to throw a wrench into our plans and see what we do with it.  Since this is a food blog, I would say that life just served me a fork; as in a literal fork in my path.

I’ve spoken some about my day job – which I loved and was good at.  It involved all my passions: food, interesting people, making a difference in my little corner of the world.  I was challenged daily and one day was never a mirror image of the last.  It allowed me to have my fingers in lots of different pies.

In a way, it literally saved us.  It was the job I fell into after the hardest time in our early married life – that time when I lost my job and then Greg lost his job and life seemed particularly dark with only minimal pinpricks of light.

Now, for that fork.  Last week, I was given a choice:  Choose to stay with my company, with the possibility of a promotion or choose to walk away with a cushion to catch me if I really stumbled.  I think the hardest choices come when you have to choose between two good things – evidenced by how had it is for me to pick just one thing off a menu.

Not to cry over spilled milk.  I realize it is a great luxury to comfortably choose.

The first thing I ever memorized in school was the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost.  I learned it in 2nd grade I could recite it to this day.  So, I decided to embrace that fork and choose the path with all the surprises.  So, as of Monday this week, I am officially without a job.

I’m a little scared. My job had been so blended with my identity for almost 7 years.  I don’t know what I am going to do next.  I haven’t even digested what this all means.  Here I am taking a moment to live consciously, adultly, on a new path that I can’t even see yet.

I took this photo at the top of the bell tower in St Mark’s Square in Venice. It seems very apt today.

Rather than fall into my next chapter, I want to craft the journey.  I am asking that you hold me accountable in just that.  I relish the idea of taking a moment just for me.  Hopefully, I’ll walk away knowing what I want to be when I grow up.  But if not, that’s OK too.

I am still mulling in that thought, stewing in the decision, stirred up in my emotions, keeping my eyes peeled and simmering down my goals – to toss ALL the food metaphors into a melting pot to steam.

For once, my plate is not too full to breathe much less think.  And so, please do stay tuned.

Lydia, with a 100% cleared table

P.S.  Bonus points if you can spot all the food references…