Friday the Fifteenth

Rising from slumber in the early hours of the morning has always been a favorite of mine. Never really had to for any other reason than the peace that I find before the rest of the world is up and rushing about. Cheryl arrived home from work shortly after 7 am and actually entertained thoughts of sharing breakfast with me. I was preparing one of those healthy ones, 5 strips of not quite crisp bacon(don't you just love that smell in the morning), two eggs fried in the bacon grease, sunnyside up(basted) and four pieces of toast(two fried in the bacon grease, mmmmmmm). There are lots of people out there who will shudder at the thought of ingesting this combination of foods, but for me they are the farm revisited. Did I forget to mention the hot black coffee that I linger over while things are in the fry pan, or the 100% butter that I slather on my unfried toast? I gave up drinking a lot of milk about 15 years ago when I could no longer procure it from the farm. It really is best when it is unhomogenized, unpasteurized, undiluted, unenriched and unfortified with any essential vitamins. That was how it was when I was growing up. Add to the assortment of culinary delights a short stack, maple syrup and sausages and you really have one of those "farm" breakfasts that grandma enjoyed for 93 years and grandpa for 89 years. If this makes you wonder why doctors are so set against this eating style today it is because it is not healthy! Makes you wonder if it was unhealthy why people from my grandparents generation have become the longest lived in America. I personally think that the life style of most people is far to sedentary. Myself included! I simply don't excercise. I did once, it wore me out. But I don't think it's the lack of excercise that does us in at an early age. Locally we just lost a 47 year old physically fit teacher that was much loved by everyone that knew him. I pray for his wife and children and all of those he left behind so suddenly due to a heart that blew up. People, if you're reading this tell me if I'm wrong! It is stress. That is what I believe is killing all of us on a daily basis. Gut wrenching, lay awake at night, worry burdened, workaholic, modern world, pressure cooker driven lives. Yes, there are a lot of 'things' that bring about one's early demise from this physical plane. If you follow all the life threatening diseases one can contract as they bounce up and down in national priority, they may not amount to a hill of beans in comparison to what stress is doing to people. Each one of us knows that person who drinks too much, smokes too much, overmedicates with prescription drugs, takes God only knows how many antacid tablets a day, and we haven't even touched on what stress is doing to people under the age of twenty one. Okay, I have to stop. This one could go all night. If you read this and you'd like to do something 'good' for 'you,' start dumping the stress. Every person knows what they need to do. Whatever it takes, whatever, dump the stress. God bless you, Preacher.