bad advice...in my opinion

I was on the phone today with a friend from Southern Florida. It was nearly lunchtime. I was alone with my thoughts of creative salad making. I have caller ID on my phone here at the house...and it is voice caller ID. So I can hear a computer voice announce who is on the phone whenever it rings. We didn't know this when we bought the phone. And we weren't sure if we'd like it...but it's pretty cool. I live in a big old house without too many phone extensions. It's nice to be able to decide from another room if I'd like to rush to the phone or call back later. Today it was my friend's name that broke my daydreams of lettuce and tomatoes. I was glad for the interuption and glad to hear from her. She's had some tough times and recently she's had some very tough times with her pets. Her 17 year old Corgi "girlfriend" passed away last week in a quite traumatic fashion. I wish I was there to help her but I live at least 1000 miles away. We support each other via the phone lines. I've talked with her when she got some upsetting medical news, when she's irritated with her mother, when a hurricane passed over her house...with her talking from the closet! So we were discussing...as usual...everything from Top Chef to her ex when she said that a neighbor friend of hers told her that she wasn't over her ex-husband and needed to get over him. And this neighbor told her that she needed some intimate activity (although she put it in very unladylike terms). Hold on I said. Is this because of his email about the dog's passing. Yes...she replied. Well she's wrong I said. You're over him as much as you're going to be after over 20 years of marriage and a child...and a 17 year old dog. I mean let's get serious....this friend of mine has handled life with everything it's thrown at her (and it hasn't all been soft, slow pitches) without once asking the old ex to help. Not once. Even when she has contacted him about things having to do with their child she has given it a great deal of thought. I told her that I thought her neighbor friend didn't know what she was talking about and that I thought she'd certainly moved on with her life without the ex...but how do you get over someone with whom you've had a child and made a family. This friend has often told me that what she misses more that sex is holding hands under the covers in the dark. She's all alone in that house...especially now that her best girl is gone. I wish I lived closer.





So today's salad is pretty standard, pretty simple. Lettuce, mushrooms, leftover cooked zucchini, a side of tuna salad. Wish she was here...or I was there...and we could share this salad and memories of better times.