How to Eat Tons of Kale in a Matter of Minutes

Rip kale off of stems and into medium sized pieces.  Place in a large bowl.
Coat with olive oil, sprinkle of turmeric, freshly grated Parmesan, and sea salt.  It's also good with just olive oil and sea salt.  Bake at 325, stirring/turning at least twice until edges are crispy.  Done when mostly crispy.  Burns easily once it's close so keep an eye on it.  A large bowl of kale cooks into the amount on this plate.

Surprisingly yummy.

Sit on the rug by the fireplace and enjoy.

Finding Megan Again

I'm not sure what happened...adulthood, maybe?  Surely having two children with special needs 17 months apart had something to do with it.  Stress, responsibility, bills, sleep deprivation?

These are real reasons, but also excuses.  There will always be obstacles.  When it comes down to it, it's simple; I must choose.  How do I want to spend my time on Earth?       

I believe that as I set more Megan free, my family will experience the world more deeply as well.  How easy it is to forget my real self when I'm busy addressing urgent needs all around me, but it's an illusion that neglecting self is a noble sacrifice.  The people in my life, and yours, deserve our light and gifts.  We cheat them of the richness within us and in the world around them when we start living plastic lives.       

I am inspired by the times in my life when I have lived openly as the the intensely passionate girl that I am, brimming with life, love, enchanted with the details of the world.  Even when thing get hard, there is still a flickering flame of that passion and intensity still inside.  I must choose.  Taking ownership of my time and attitude, accountability for my experiences, and choosing the details of my days will make all the difference.  Time for rekindling the fire.  Time to be brave.  Right here and now, imperfectly, it's time to find Megan again.

Living Deeply and Falling Hard

 

Almost ten years ago, a boy I really liked said to me, "don't fall hard (insert my last name)".  I was temporarily frozen while processing my feelings and life events.  I pondered his comment and finally concluded, why not?  Why not fall hard?  If I was going to be true to myself, I knew that falling hard was always going to be a very real part of my story.  I recognized that I didn't want to live a dispassionate life, always composed and slightly detached.  I get ridiculously excited about things, I feel things deeply, (a blessing and a curse I suppose!) which inevitably leads me to fall hard...whether I'm falling in love or falling down.  My lows are proportionate to my highs. 

I recognize that my friend's comment was given in that moment and has value in the context of "don't get all worked up about things, Megan" or "don't let this be a stumbling block for you" but the truth was it wasn't really possible for me to not fall hard.  That night his words "don't fall hard" stirred and stimulated my thinking until the words live deeply, fall hard, get up, repeat were finally scribbled onto a page in my journal and became part of my arsenal of personal aphorisms about the way I see the world.

Life is amazing, magical, and beautiful.  We are capable of perceiving lovely subtleties in the textured world around us, intuitions and simple pleasures, deeply experiencing  profound joys and sorrows as our souls expand, as we laugh and cry, dream, explore and try again.       

And I've been falling hard, beautifully, ever since.

~Megan