Life is too Short to Eat Broccoli

I had started cooking dinner when we received the text. Our good friend badly fractured her wrist in a horse-riding accident. This was on top of unfortunate health related news she received the day before. Cath and I had two immediate reactions: sadness for our friend, and a mutual decision to substitute mashed potatoes for the broccoli we were planning to serve with dinner. 

 It’s true. I was roasting a whole chicken with rosemary and garlic stuffed under the skin. We planned to serve some sautéed broccoli with it. I like broccoli just fine, but it can be a bit boring unless you spice things up during the sauté. I think I planned to use some ginger and Gochujang, a Korean red pepper paste that night

 In general, Cath and I eat pretty healthily. Balanced meals. Many veggies. Some vegetarian meals. Reduced carbs. Reduced dairy. Smaller portions of meat. A fair amount of seafood. We often eat broccoli in salads and soups, or sautéed. You get the picture.

 On that particular evening, I had just put the chicken on the grill, when suddenly the texts started arriving. Our friend was competing in a cross-country horse-riding competition. After successfully crossing a water hazard, her horse bolted at the next jump. She was thrown and had a distal radius fracture in her wrist, along with three fractured ribs*. Surgery might be needed on the wrist. 

 We immediately replied and asked how she was doing and whether we could help. Her husband was with her, which was good news, but she was devastated and in great pain. She then let us know she was also diagnosed with an auto-immune disease the day before. We knew she was having some issues, but this diagnosis was not good news. In our friend’s words, “My karma is terrible right now.”

 We finished talking and Cath and I stared at each other. We were devastated as well. As we sat there, a thought occurred to me and I quietly said to Cathy, “Hey, what do you think if we substitute mashed potatoes for the broccoli tonight?”  She immediately answered, “Yes please.” The need for comfort food suddenly became overpowering.

 Cathy made the mashed potatoes while I finished the chicken. She added extra butter and some sour cream to the final product as well. These were not anything close to healthy mashed potatoes, if there is such a thing.

 As we sat down to dinner, we toasted our friend, wishing her good luck, good health, and a recovery from her fall. I like to think the mashed potatoes were, in their own way, also a toast to her. They were delicious. Roast chicken and mashed potatoes – a good comfort food combination that seemed essential, as we lamented the bad luck our friend was having.

…

It is a couple of weeks later now, and for our friend, things are better. Surgery was not needed on her wrist, but the recovery is going to take some time. She is currently exploring treatment options for her auto-immune disease. There is no cure, however, there are things they can do to slow it, and to mitigate some of the symptoms. We know it may be trial and error for a while. Our friend is a fighter, and we know she will do some ass-kicking along the way. We will be there to support her. 

 I have thought of the night of the texts for a while now. It occurred to me the switch to mashed potatoes might have made lite of her situation and what happened. When I think more about it, I know that is not the case. Life is short. No one has a guarantee of time on this earth and we need to enjoy our time while we can. Sometimes, life is too short to eat broccoli.

Sometimes, Living Life Exuberantly just means substituting loaded mashed potatoes for broccoli, and calling it good. I have spoken with our friend and she agrees as well.

I should also tell you – she makes some killer mashed potatoes of her own with goat cheese. We are getting together some time soon to share a bowl and celebrate life. That is the kind of friendship we have – good times, life, love, and shared dinners, occasionally with killer mashed potatoes and no broccoli. 

Addendum:

• ^ A Special thanks to Erin Gilmore of Erin Gilmore Photography who generously gave her permission for me to use the photo of our friend. You can learn more about Erin and her work here: eringilmorephotos.com . She does wonderful work and I love her tag line: “The art of noticing.”
• * Our friend is an Eventer in the horse world and an accomplished rider. She was on the cross-country course when her horse bolted and was probably going between 30-35 mph. She was tossed in the air and fell from a height of about 8 feet.
• It is worth noting that we did have the broccoli a couple of nights later. It was fine, and I know we will continue to eat, and enjoy it.