Little Dove

Truth. 

(via buddhaful-souls)

Always present but never expected is the current of nostalgia that upsurges when I cross the Mass Pike. Something on the left corner of the bus—I’m always on the left & always by the window—begins to shift. The chords playing through my ear buds intensify. My heart rate quickens. I sit up straight. I look for it. And right on cue, the figure of the tall standing Prudential building breaks the vat inside me, the one that harbors all true feelings of the past—-both equally horrifying & magnificent.  & then I, in paralyzing awe, bare witness to every square inch of the dark & light that I have stepped into throughout my days & for what feels like the first time, see the beauty of my own life from the magnifying glass of the window seat.   

Good night, New York. Upper West Side sunset.

Somewhere along the way we figured out the real point was to Occupy Your Own Life. How to take back the wild, exuberant moments. How to feel them beating softly in the palm of your hand. How to know in your heart of hearts that being your own life is the most precious thing there is.

This Vegan from New York

About three months ago, I experienced a bad reaction to shellfish, an allergy that soon turned into my body’s aversion to all things seafood. Not a big deal, right? Just hold the surf on the turf next time. Except that I’m a pescatarian. I forgot to mention I’m highly lactose intolerant. Doesn’t leave me with much to work with on the food triangle. Rather than trying to explain my strange food restrictions—& in the spirit of the new beginnings—I decided to enter 2012 a vegan.

I’ve been down this road before. Last time it was in college & it was by choice. I started eating fish again when my hair fell out & “Sharon Stone” became my acquired nickname. The time I was mistaken for Owen Wilson at a bar was enough to snap some sense (& lots of sushi into me) for the new few years. What started with a little fish in my diet turned into an omelette every weekend & the nightly consumption of wine, cheese & lactaid.

But this time, with the right supplements & some brand new allergies I was more than ready to enter the Vegan World. & Living in New York, finding vegetarian options is easier than catching a cab. But on my road trip to Florida, a quick stop at a southern chain in Georgia proved some parts of the world are not yet ready for a vegan to enter.

Granted the slogan of Hardee’s was: “An even better way to wash down a burger is with another burger,” but we had been driving for over six hours & I would have eaten my left hand if it would have been vegan. Besides, I was confident I could find—or at least alter— something on the menu. When I saw they were advertising a new taco salad, I thought “Bingo!” What happened next is entirely fact not interpretation, although I would die to hear Alisha, the cashier’s take on our brief interaction… apparently, I moved her to tears.

Alisha: Welcome to Hardee’s what can I get you?

Me: Hi! What comes in your taco salad?

Alisha: Let’s see… there’s beef, salsa, beans, cheese, sour cream.

Me: Okay. I’ll take it, but without the beef or cheese.

Alisha: Hold beans and cheese (punches in the computer)

Me: No, sorry. The beef, hold the beef. Oh and the sour cream.

Alisha: (puzzled) Girl, you want just lettuce and salsa?

Me: And beans.

Alisha: Whoa now! You want the beans… Mmm what was I thinking! (Laughs) And to drink?

Me: Do you have unsweetened iced tea?

Alisha: (laughing harder) It’s sweet tea! You want that unsweetened? Mmm…

Me: Can you do that?

Alisha: Small, medium or large?

Me: Medium

(Alisha places a cup on the counter)

Me: Oh, I said medium not large

Alisha: (crying laughing now, puts two hands on her thighs) Sherry! Come get the next customer I can’t even breathe!

First palm tree sighting just outside of Georgia. Getting closer & closer to our little piece of paradise.

What’s cool about Baltimore? Not too sure, either.

Great journey, early morning. En route to Virginia.