Driving home from the doctor's office this afternoon, my mother and I decided to stop at the Jack in the Box for a burger. I know, I know...there are SO many better places to get a burger but it was on the way. As we make our selections in the drive thru, I tell my mom to get my dad a chocolate milkshake.
You see, my father LOVES chocolate milkshakes and the shakes at Jack in the Box are pretty good, considering they are made with real ice cream. (Don't get me started on what in the hell "fake" ice cream is!) Whenever we get burgers there, my dad generally asks for a shake. My mother generally says "NO!" The reason you ask?
Well if it were Mom answering, it would be because my father is a type II diabetic which he is managing with his diet and there is too much sugar in the milkshake and it will screw up his blood sugar. If I were answering the question, I would say that she is just a big wet rag sometimes and doesn't like to see my dad happy. (LOL...I am not serious about this...I say that to tease her!)
I finally convince her to get the poor guy his milkshake because I had a coupon in my wallet for a free shake with any purchase, and heaven forbid we pass up something free! Meanwhile, as we are waiting for our food to arrive at window number two, we begin rehashing what my doctor had said during my visit in her office. She explained the way in which food and the things we eat many times are directly correlated to the way we feel and disease, etc. She was suggesting that I go on an anti-inflammatory diet which would help to eliminate much of the inflammation I have in my body, simply by cutting out certain foods. She tells me to stay away from processed foods as it will make me feel better. (Does anyone see the irony as we are sitting in a fast food drive thru? Just sayin'!) She also says that I need to stay away from any foods that will cause inflammation in my body...and there are apparently a lot of them.
I immediately looked over to my mother, with her perked interest and smug grin, because ever since I got sick with RA, she has insisted that I go off of: dairy, sugar, white flour, corn...basically anything that tastes good, she wants me to stop eating. She has been on my ass for MONTHS about eliminating these foods to no avail and then today, my stupid doctor fuels her fodder!
Give me a break!
So we are in the car and discussing my doctor's much unwarranted advice and my mother asks me to explain what the doctor meant by her comment on living until you are one hundred. I explained that the doctor said it is better to be happy and live until you are eighty than to live miserably until you are one hundred; it's not the QUANTITY of life, but rather the QUALITY!
My mother then says, "So what's she's saying is that it is better to live a shorter life than to be miserable?"
"No," I say, "it means that if Dad wants a damn chocolate milkshake, then let the poor man have a chocolate milkshake!"
Somehow I don't think she liked my answer! But really, if you get right down to it, my doctor was right. It IS better to live a shorter and happier life than a long miserable one. Who wants to live unhappily until they are one hundred just so they can say they lived until they were one hundred?? No thank you!
If I had to choose, I would live my life to the fullest, each day as if it were my last, and above all, I would be happy! I hope that is what I am doing. I know I am a bit stuck right now in neutral but one day soon...I am going to go to that aerobics class with my friend, go out dancing at the local tavern, and purchase that plane ticket to Europe. I am going to live this life to the fullest and happiest. And if that includes a chocolate milkshake then so be it!!
Wishing you all good health and humor! Have a chocolate milkshake on me!!
Make mine an Oreo shake! And when you are better, we are definitely going to give yoga class another try, right?
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