I have to take my lunch to work every day because I cannot leave the weather office unattended. For many months now I have been preparing salads-in-a-jar on the weekends to enjoy throughout the week. Jeff grills up either two marinated chicken breasts or two Ribeye steaks, blackened, so I have a hearty protein. He also peels the hard-boiled eggs for me because he says he does a better job at peeling eggs. Who am I to complain? Peel away, baby!
Each morning Jeff packs my lunch box while I am getting ready for work. He tucks in my salad-in-a-jar, the container of grilled meat (my favorite these days is the marinated grilled chicken. It’s divine!), a dressing (usually honey mustard, Bleu cheese, or Greek vinaigrette) and something for breakfast, along with a banana, for the potassium. Sometimes he’ll sneak in a couple mini- snickers bars from his hidden stash (he hides the candy because I have zero self-control and he can go without candy for days, weeks, and months without ever thinking about the candy).
On Monday, this week, I had leftover Chicken Parmesan from our Saturday date night at Bella’s Italian Cafe. So I took that for my lunch instead of one of my prepared salads-in-a-jar, figuring I would simply eat it on Friday when I got home early from work. Again, Jeff packed my lunch. While I was at work I began thinking about the salad I was going to eat for lunch - with that delicious marinated chicken. I couldn’t get it out of my mind and couldn’t wait for lunch time. When I opened my lunch box for my breakfast, my heart sank. No salad-in-a-jar. I experienced a surprisingly distinct disappointment. Bella’s Chicken Parmesan is probably one of the best Chicken Parmesan's I have ever eaten so it wasn’t as if I wasn’t going to eat well. But that morning, for some reason, I had my heart - and stomach - firmly set, my taste buds watering, on a salad - with marinated grilled chicken. I even shared my disappointment with Jeff, who thought it was really a good thing because that means I wouldn’t be getting tired any time soon of eating salads every day for lunch.
Come Tuesday I was so thankful for my salad! Our weekends over these past 7 months have been slow. Life has come to a screeching halt. I have had ‘time’ to prepare my salads for the week. Times are changing as we head back to church on Sunday (when I normally prepare the salads), serving on Sundays, and small group Sunday evening. My salads, for my health mostly, need to be a priority.