After making all sorts plans to start off January 1st in a healthy way, I ended up sick in bed all day. It was pretty humbling to start off the new year not able to get out of bed, but perhaps I needed to be humbled a bit.
I have lofty goals for my health and fitness this year, and I had planned to have that all start on January 1st. So it’s not lost on me that I woke up not really able to do much other than sit up. I drank all kinds of fluids. I watched the final episodes of Stranger Things. And rested as much as I could hoping that in the morning I’d feel better.
This morning I woke up feeling a bit better. And I was so relieved by that. I knew if I could just get myself up and moving a bit, there would be a likely chance that by the end of the day I could feel fairly functional again.
So I did simple things like put away laundry and tidied up the bedroom a bit. I drank more tea, made some of my favorite coffee, and enjoyed a day off from my job. By lunchtime I was feeling good enough to want to venture out and get some comfort food.
So I headed to my favorite Thai spot with my favorite red curry. Even thinking about the bowl of warm curry was like medicine to my soul. But when I got there, it was closed. (This is not an uncommon occurrence for me. I am very talented about showing up to places when they are closed.)
Disappointed, I sat in the parking lot trying to think of another place that could bring healing to my soul in a similar way to what I was anticipating that red curry was going to do. I remembered the Italian place down the street from me has really great homemade soups. And even though I didn’t know what their soup of the day for Friday would be, I decided that it was going to have to do the trick for me today.
The Italian restaurant is a quiet, family owned spot in West Omaha. It’s fairly dark with framed black and white posters of Italian families and scenes from inside Italian restaurants. There are padded wooden booths, and the atmosphere feels warm. Any time I’ve been there have been lots of older couples. Today when I went there was a group of older women, perhaps in their 70s and 80s, who all had a meal together. They were wearing paper hats that said “Happy New Years!” and “2026!”.
I was brought to a booth across the way from them. They were just finishing up their meals and thanking the server Kolby, as if he were a friend of theirs or their grandsons’. Afterwards, they all split up amongst the tables that sat four around the middle part of the restaurant and set up to play cards with one another. I got the sense that this is perhaps a fairly normal occurrence for this group of ladies.
The soup of the day ended up being a seafood chowder. I ordered a bowl of that along with a side caesar salad and some iced tea. When they brought out my salad they also brought a basket of a couple warm complimentary dinner rolls.
The soup was perhaps the best chowder I’ve ever had in my life. It was flavorful and packed with all sorts of lobster and crab and other seafood bits. Every spoonful was a delight. So much so that I had to just sit back and close my eyes for a moment to appreciate it.
Earlier in the day I had the shower thought of What if I were to just spend my money on quality loose leaf teas and good coffee, lots of candles, and fresh bread and soups?
I’m fairly certain I could live simply like that for a very long time and remain happy, at least in these winter months. And, well, today I was.
Stepping Back 