Ravioli

I am an early bird. At my best and happiest in the mornings. Friday I had worked a long day. I'm not complaining. I love my job. But retail at Christmas is crazy. Part of what I do when we are at our busiest is be the Line Elf. We have one long queue for the customers, then buttons are pushed and they are told to go to Register 3 or whatever. While they are in line, I chat them up about our store, our online survey, our store credit card, our St. Jude drive, our gift cards, and so on. I love people and I enjoy doing it. If I was a natural extrovert, it would probably energize me to do this. But as an introvert, the more I talk to people the more drained I feel. So that evening I went home and did a few things I needed to do, then got ready for bed.

Physically I was very tired, but I was still pretty alert mentally. Not really winding down. I kind of just chilled there in bed for a while, playing with my iphone. I felt...oh I don't know. Kind of bored and kind of lonely and kind of sad without really knowing why I felt that way. Then it hit me! Then I had an inspiration! Ravioli! I had found this really cool ravioli at my favorite store, and it was just chilling there in the fridge. I wasn't really hungry, but definitely in the mood to cook.

So I went downstairs and started making some red sauce for the ravioli. It's 10:30 at night, past my bedtime for sure, and I am chopping onions and mushrooms, listening to Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman sing "Time To Say Goodbye." I turned it up really loud, and sang along. It was like this amazing Italian opera going on in our little apartment's kitchen, and I started to cry when it occurred to me how beautiful life really is.

It was an amazing experience, all of it. The music. My mood. The ravioli. I slept really well that night.

Susan

"Time to Say Goodbye" written by Lucio Quarantotti and Francesco Sartori