"Every second counts"
or "Life is enjoy"... all such quotes mean the same thing.
I found an instagram account, @wander.da, this week which ends its every reel with the mantra: “Life is enjoy”.
No, it’s not grammatically correct. It’s not even clear. What does it even mean, you might say? But we all know it’s a good approach to life. If you are not with me on that, let me tell you a story.
Recently, I had some friends over for dinner. It had been a while since I met a few of them. I was excited to host and to cook, as always. If you have been reading this blog, you already know: I enjoy cooking, especially cooking for someone. I created a schedule to do the grocery shopping, for prepping the food ahead of time and cleaning (as one does).
As the unfolded, my schedule was interrupted. I couldn’t cook, and ended up ordering in. There’s a pizza store nearby which makes gluten-free pizzas, but only veggie pizzas are celiac-safe. So, I ordered a few of those, in the spirit of keeping the kitchen gluten-free.
My friends came over, we had fun playing games and talking, and maybe some drinks. Soon after it was dinner time. On the realization that everything is vegetarian, a friend’s disappointment was visible even through the veil of trying to hide it. To be fair, he was nice and considerate about it. It just happened that I observed it.
This reminded me of my pre-celiac disease days. I didn’t have a worry in the world about eating anything. I travelled around India and ate all the local foods I could. I enjoyed food, and would eat anything on a whim. This is before food-delivery days, so whims also needed some effort other than waiting, haha! But yes, I took this for granted. Anything I found delicious and craved for, I would just eat. Gaining weight wasn’t an issue as I have always been skinny my whole life. Only later did I connect those dots with celiac disease.
It’s true that we don’t realize our privileges until we lose them. There’s only a limited number of things that each one of us can enjoy in life. Firstly, one should be able to do it physically, be able to afford to do it, have the right support system to do it and, probably hardest, find the time to do it. Whatever “it” may be.
I enjoy travelling and trying local foods as I walk past certain little stores that only understand local language. I am glad that I got the opportunity to do it so wonderfully. The diagnosis of celiac disease did put a tamper on that. Fortunately, there are other things I can enjoy and can still do.
I can’t emphasize this enough: enjoy everything you can. It could be something as simple as walking your dog or playing with your buddies. All of it is a privilege. Not to be morbid, but honest: some day each one of us won’t be able to do “it”. Your abilities aren’t going to last forever; nothing will, including yourself. Even if you believe in afterlife, remember that afterlife isn’t going to be the same as the one you have now.
About the night of veggie pizzas, I think all of it turned out good overall.
In the award-winning series, The Bear, the tenth episode of third season is titled “Forever”. The chef hosting the last dinner at the world’s best restaurant, Ever, invites everyone who ever worked there. She has been running the place as the best restaurant in the world for years, and now closing it willingly to focus on other things in life. During the dinner, she expresses her gratitude with a warm speech:
“[...] what I’ve learnt over the years, in all the places I’ve worked, is: people don’t remember the food. Sorry. It’s the people they remember. [...]”
As the episode progresses, she takes the sign in the kitchen down, to take with her. It says: “Every second counts”. That scene adds a whole new meaning to it.
Thanks for reading!
Lots of love! ❤️