Crystal Clear Observations

Second time is a charm!  I recently mastered the art of cooking a whole turkey. "What's the big deal?", you might ask. For me, A LOT. Growing up, I always WATCHED the women in my family prepare a beautiful turkey under a watchful eye. I have vivid memories of my mother waking up throughout the night to check on the turkey in the oven every few hours. I also recall my grandmother carefully monitoring the turkey and prized dressing every holiday. Turkey and dressing were always the best part of my childhood holiday meals. I remember the first attempt at cooking a turkey around the time my daughter was 10 years old. I had no clue what I was doing and left the giblet bag in, didn't season it good nor did it cook up well. It was such a mess! I never attempted to cook one again. Fast forward to 2017. My employer gave me a beautiful 13 lb. turkey for the holiday. I didn't want it to go to waste so I decided to tackle the task at hand. With the help of s...

I saw the classic movie"It's A Wonderful Life" this past Friday for the first time and wondered how did such a masterpiece manage to escape my viewing eyes all these years! It's a wonderful tale of living a humble and selfless life. I don't remember which friend it was who suggested I see it around 15 years ago. I was going through a very difficult time and major depression. This friend suggested I see the film because I reminded her of the main character. Having seen the film, I am flattered that someone saw George Bailey in me. We could all learn a lot from George Bailey; a man that was actually good to a flaw. He selflessly gave of himself to others to a fault. He never sat back and took inventory of his character and life until a little angel forced him to see what the world would be like without his contributions. It's so easy to take our lives for granted especially in the age of social media. We see other people crafting the narrative they want ot...