German Chocolate Red Peppers

Something very unusual and exciting happened to me the other night. I was attending a lovely graduation ceremony for a special homeschooled young woman. The elegant and happy atmosphere was accentuated with a dozen or so gorgeous, tantalizing layer cakes in the fellowship room downstairs. Carrot cake, berry cheesecakes, German chocolate (my fave), black forest, you name it, it was there...with open arms of engagement. That must be why they call it a "fellowship" room...sweet fellowship with those culinary soul mates called cakes. Anyway, as I was saying, something odd happened. There was a peripheral table, sort of back in the corner of the room with veggies and dip and cheese and cracker plates. Poor table...having to be sidelined by the adored cake table in the center of the room, with a crowd of droolers hovering and moaning over her. I guess I took pity on the veggie table, and forgot my football gear which helps to plow through the people and get to the beloved cakes, so I heroically let the crowd have at it and I sampled the red peppers. Maybe I was just hungry, but those veggies were amazing, and the cheese...you just have to know that life without cheese just wouldn't be worth living. I ate my fair share of the cheese and veggies and was absolutely loving it. All by myself, not because of a diet, just really loving it!
Finally, I saw an opening at the cake table and took it stealthily. I ingeniously cut small samples of my four finalists on the cake table, then dug in. They were good. That's it...just good. I tried again to get that euphoric cake experience, but all I could get was just good. What was wrong? I'm supposed to be in seventh heaven by now, according to every "normal" woman alive with taste buds in tact. I finished my plate, and still nothing more than good. After momentary disappointment, I realized that I had much more fun and pleasure at that poor old cheese and veggie table than the cake table. Being the pseudo scientist that I am, I went back to try those rejected veggies again and found the same positive results. Call me crazy, sick or old, but I just parked myself beside those peppers and accepted my dysfunction.

It's amazing how determined we are. Later on, I eyed the German Chocolate cake again thinking that the third try might be the winner, but I resisted, thinking of how ridiculous it was to make myself eat something I should be avoiding anyway. What is it about the relentless pursuit of pleasure??? Little children aren't hung up on what others tell them is fun, they just do their thing...pick their nose and wear mix matched clothes. We adults, however have to get over the hill of worldly brainwashing and accept that we don't always enjoy what most do. Some people don't have this problem, but most do, I suspect.

So now, my eyes are wide open. No more blind following the blind. I'm going to keep low waisted jeans out of my closet, plain old soda water in my fridge and continue watching Dukes of Hazzard reruns with the kids.