FEAR

what I fear:

  • elevators that stop between floors
  • rejection
  • meter maids
  • missing bill payments
  • loving too much
  • finance fees
  • disappointing my parents (still)
  • retirement fund statements
  • disappointing my kids
  • annual reports
  • knee injury
  • making big decisions
  • being alone with a box of powdered donuts
  • fundamentalism
  • bed bugs
  • humorless people
  • Martha Stewart craft projects
  • aiming too high
  • aiming too low
  • spreadsheets
  • getting:
    • 1. old
    • 2. sick
    • 3. infirm
  • Dying
  • losing friendships
  • dull knives
  • losing opportunities
  • and I REALLY fear feeding my six-year-old:

Me: “You haven’t been eating your oatmeal lately William.
Is Mommy making it wrong? How would you like me to make it?”

William: “Mommy, make the oatmeal. Then sweeten it by not using sugar. (?)
Then add chocolate chips and bake it. “(?)
Me: “Bake it?”

William: “Put it in there.” (pointing to microwave)

Me (serving it up): “Do you still want a bowl of brown sugar on the side?”

nod

William (heaping brown sugar into his bowl, patting it down, tasting): “Brown sugar mixed with chocolate mixed with oatmeal doesn’t taste that good. I’m full.”

what I fear but face anyway:

  • spreadsheets
  • disappointing my parents
  • social media
  • disappointing my children
  • driving on superhighways with kids and no snacks
  • making big decisions
  • baking soufflés
  • bungee jumping
  • cleaning artichokes
  • rejection
  • cleaning the cavities of raw chickens
  • Martha Stewart craft projects
  • losing opportunities

what/who I don’t fear:

  • needles
  • spiders
  • sharp knives
  • food processors
  • the left lane
  • the dark
  • dogs
  • people whose job it is to serve the public (politicians)
  • people whose job it is to protect me (police)
  • people whose job it is to cure me (doctors)
  • people whose job it is to fix my computer (IT)
  • people whose job it is to fill my spiritual needs (priests/ministers/rabbis/imams/gurus)
  • steep sledding hills
  • roller coasters
  • Martha Stewart
  • a good cry

This morning, I got it right. William ate his oatmeal. Face your fear.

Soufflé Au Fromage
courtesy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking
by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, Simone Beck

This recipe follows seven pages of mandatory reading on soufflé engineering. Skip them and risk your soufflé falling flat.