Makin' Bacon

I believe it has the powers to bridge the gap of a prior nights argument. I believe it can turn a cranky child in to a happy camper. I believe it can turn a normally calorie conscious person into one who justifies. Also, for me, there is something about the slow, deliberate turning and scooting of the luscious pork that causes me to have to stand still long enough to ponder some things I have put on the back burner, ha!, no pun intended. So on this fine Eve of our glorious Independence Day, I find myself wanting to stop everything I was going to do for a minute & cook up some bacon. I carefully cut across the top lengthwise as is my custom & throw the thin strip away in the recycle bin. I peel ' back the first piece & set it into the warming pan.

I would like to interject at this point that as a person nearly nine years into "Recovery", right brained & pushing through life long Post Trauma, I have , at now 55 years old , come to closure with many baffling things concerning the person I am. Why I've always felt so outside of the outside of the circle. Why I was SO unorthodox with everything I did. Why I was what I prefer to call deliberate which the rest of the world calls s-l-o-w. What does this have to do with makin' bacon  you might be thinking about now. In what is my world?? Everything.

Structure & schedules I have always been rather in opposition to. I say that's just something from my era as a baby boomer being raised up in that "hippie" culture. But processes, staging, & methodology are necessary to ensue a properly functioning brain in this prodigy. Seals with an answer why I am unstressed after going through the protocol required for making lasagna, canning fruit butters, mending clothes or braiding hair. Back to the bacon.

In a choreographed manner I set the bacon slices side by side. I gaze intently into the pan as though I am about to deliver the long awaited answer for the cure of breast cancer. Shifting the pieces around, gently turning, making sure the temp. stays low & slow, I consider this place I am now at in my life.
Not in a million years nor in my greatest imagination could I have come up with something better than the reality of the current "living" situation I find myself in.

It is known in many states as "shared housing". Other terms are, transitional housing or communal living. One resident/roommate whom has become like family to me says it's ,"just a step up from a boarding house". Ha!! Ha!! If I didn't keep light of everything?? I'd certainly lose my mind. Thank you for continued grace God!! And for showing me that my circumstances by no means dictate WHO I am !! So.... I have been in this type of living for exactly two years now originating from actual homelessness w/my then 17 year old girl. After two months in the family shelter we transitioned out. I have been 2 years with this landlord whom has acquired thirteen other houses of the same type. 6 people per home. Personal bdrms. pose as the main living quarters. Kitchen, bathrooms, yard areas common ground for all. I must thank God for people like him. Even if he is doing this as a career choice because he has become wealthy or simply as a result of having a heart like a Samaritan for those such as myself , it is a wonderful thing to have a secure roof over my head, adequate, healthy water, decent & appropriate clothing through the seasons. If the rent comes faithfully , ANYONE can rent from this man. Scary how the "Almighty Dollar" can dictate what's allowable & what isn't!! This shouldn't be.

Every single thing I own now fits in one bedroom. How much do we really NEED anyway?? And it's "freeing". I feel unencumbered. It's wonderful. What's NOT wonderful are some of the people that transition through. Stories for another time for sure!! So, in the approximate 30 minutes ,{ I can work that stove to take 40 minutes for bacon if I REALLY have a lot of contemplating to do } , it takes to cook this stuff, I have sorted through many a thing mentally AND produced part of an awesome breakfast at the same time!! I quickly scramble some eggs with cheese sauteing some fresh parsley, onion & garlic to add in the final moments, brown up some artisan bread & "VOILA"!! Breakfast AND 1/2 of the 10 kinds of science mastered in one stroke!!

And there we have it. A heads up. If you are ever invited to where I am for a homeade breakfast & happen to observe me "makin' bacon", hand on hip, head tilted downward gazing intently at the project at hand, you will be one of the "remnant few" who will be keyed in realizing there is far more going on than the mechanics of cooking a tasty meal. It is what the true magic is of "makin' bacon".
Yours At The Keys : Sher