HEY, I GOTTA EAT!

Being retired, I have no time on my hands. The hustle and bustle of working life have escaped me and now I am too busy to relax. This is good. When I worked I had to conform to a rigid schedule of commuting and putting in hours of decision-making and meetings as well as schedules that could not be broken.

But now, I have the freedom to do what I want and I do it as much as I want. For instance, lunch, a time-honored tradition in my life that I dedicated myself to, only super-seeded by dinner is occupying my days. Old friends and acquaintances have come to the forefront and together we commiserate about people and times we know or knew. As I write this I still have an hour and fifty minutes until lunch and I haven’t yet formulated what I want. I hate when that happens.

Different people require different restaurants. One likes an all you can eat Chinese restaurant that also serves Italian food from its buffet, one likes Italian and one, a ribs and chops hamburger man. One is a writer, one an author and one a photographer all bringing to the table some interesting experiences that are shared with yours, truly. I love it.

Being that I do most of the cooking at home, inspiration prevails as I peruse the different menus and look at the different possibilities that can be had from these experiences.

But why am I telling you this?

Because I find it an interesting turn of events. When I worked I had my lunches with these same people and time was a factor in how much I could enjoy them. Not that I had to be back at a certain time, but, there were things that needed to be done, calls to make and people to get back to, so it was always in my mind as I worried that the waiter or waitress was taking too much time with my order, all the while sitting on the edge of my seat.