Michael Holbrook
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Did You Know ...

8/31/2017

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  • "listen" and "silent" use the same Letters
  • "race car" spelled backwards spells "race car"
  • "eat" is the only word that if you take the first letter and move it to the last, spells its past tense "ate"
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Life’s a Beet, Then You Die.

8/28/2017

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Picture
I don’t like beets. I didn’t like them as a kid, don’t like them as an adult. I do not enjoy cold soup. The saying goes, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” Revenge. Not soup. So in my mind, it stands to reason that beets and cold soup should not be used as a mash-up to create anything that might accidently get near my mouth.
   So along comes the cold variety of borscht. Oh sure, borscht can be made without beets, such as the tomato paste-based “orange borscht,” but I’m still not buying it. It contains a whole bunch of ingredients that my mother dutifully tried washing out of my bib many times in those days of developing taste buds.
   Trying new and different things keeps life adventurous. That variety and discovery is what makes life enjoyable and exciting. So, I decided it was time to eat my own words as it were. I took the approach that by sitting at a restaurant table and ordering borscht, I was experiencing life outside my comfort zone. Something new. A culinary adventure for the timid (me!). I fidgeted, made small talk, and looked longingly at the “real” food being delivered to surrounding tables. Then my moment of truth. The borscht arrived. Quicker than any restaurant appetizer I’d ever ordered in my life.
   I tucked in, placed the spoon between my thumb, index, and middle finger (you just looked at your hand, didn’t you), and scooped up my first mini-ladle of borscht. I did it! And I discovered something.
I don’t like beets. I didn’t like them as a kid, don’t like them as an adult. I do not enjoy cold soup. But now I can say it with self-acquired knowledge and authority, and put the experience in the memory folder, filed under “Nope!”
   But, I did learn a few things. By climbing over my usual walls and into uncharted territory, I gained a tad bit of confidence, a dollop of accomplishment, and removed another brick from the wall that would otherwise separate me from meeting life challenges head-on.
​
It’s all part of the adventure.
 
Excerpt from Dear You, Live! Love, Life. (Available in paperback and Kindle editions.)

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