The List: What I’ve accomplished while waiting for whatever : Creative Explosion, Emboldened

In reflecting upon this time of waiting I did manage to achieve a few things that I originally did not consider so here is my list of 17. I am sure there are more but this is the short list. 

Health-Achieved remarkable health results that  weight loss, A1C blood test & all tests ( the best in at least 20 years!)

Exercise- Established a routine that was relatively disciplined @ 3x per week & up to 5 miles!

Spirituality- Developed a renewed focus on scriptural reading, Biblical studies, and spiritual writings.

Marriage Relationship- Strengthened an already positive union by facing pain, uncertainty, and fear together and also spending a significant amount of time just being together.

Grandchildren- Increased time and relationships with all Grandchildren by many individual events as well as game playing ( taught the boys cards! At last).

Internet – Significantly enhanced  social media understanding, usage and skills.

Reading- Able to get back to reading a multitude of books and periodicals.

 Writing –Enhanced my skills and enjoyment by frequency of writings stories, op eds, poems, food –marriage-dog blogs, & spiritual reflections.

Current News Events- Significantly increased or finely tuned knowledge of current event, world, American & school issues,  awareness and  knowledge by following everything from far left Huffington Post to far right & libertarian publicans/blogs.

Dogs- Developed the strongest bond and love for my dog Cole than with any other pet while achieving a low level of training success.

Cooking- Acquired new levels of culinary skill, knowledge, and resourcefulness

Cleaning- Not really a goal but I am quite good at some chores that I have never done & amazed at how my wife has done these things for 40+ years.

Opinions- Solidified opinions on life, people and a wide variety of insignificant topics.

Photography –Devoted time to using my skills and organizing some photos on my PC.

Organization of Personal Activities- Finally developed a system for many personal activities like the organization of writing and photos that works well with my uniqueness of style and random thoughts

Creativity- Able to express some  talents by creating Blogs( BFF, TNATS) and other things in development.

Consulting- Able to utilize a little of my retail operational experience in a few situations.

The Dark Cloud of Cancer

Twenty one years ago my wife’s mother died at the young age of fifty six. Cancer quickly took Becky’s best friend and her main support away. It all seemed so unfair and cruel. We certainly questioned God and His divine plan. Her Mother, however, had out lived the other members of her family (Mother, father, sister) who all had died young from the ravages of cancer. This dark cloud has stalked us ever since. For twenty on years the fear of cancer and death was a real threat. We always worried that my wife would also become a victim. As each year passed, especially fifty six which was the milestone year, we were thankful, yet the black shadow always lingered close. My wife’s youngest sister was stricken with cancer in her early thirty’s and survived with prayer, love and after the long treatment process .  Recently she was diagnosed with another, different, cancer so the family cancer fear manifested itself with an even greater vengeance and overwhelmed all. The lurking threat became ever present especially as her sister discovered that she carried an inherited cancer gene referred to as Lynch Syndrome.  Those who have a parent or sibling with this gene have a high probability, of carrying the gene, passing it to offspring and have a very high (80%) chance of having one of the cancers directly associated with Lynch Syndrome.  Especially vulnerable are females who have a greater number and types of cancer. Once Lynch was discovered in the family everyone knew that they must be tested since if the gene was present it would require some very specific testing for the early detection of the almost enviable cancers. So the testing began and darkness suffocated all we did until we would receive the results of genetic testing.

It is like waiting one’s entire life and no matter what the answer, it would be a life altering revelation. It was difficult to relax, trust God or even pray. Helplessness maybe hopelessness was our general state of being. Almost an acceptance of what we expected to be the enviable life adjustments to detect early stages of cancer. We could only pray Hail Mary’s and to her Mother who was just beyond the walls of this life in the next room speaking with us about calm and understanding of God’s will.

We left for two days of a winery B&B experience in order to fortify ourselves for my East Coast position, which of course added much additional stress and uncertainty,  and the results of the genetic test. Upon returning home we received an unexpected call informing us that the geneticist wanted to meet with us the next morning. Every black fear that we had encountered along this journey now surrounded and tormented us. We gasped for air yet found little relief or positives in this sudden call. In was another sleepless night. Having trusted our lives and every situation to the Lord we had faith that whatever fears were realized, would occur for some mysterious reason and we trusted the Lord that He could sustain us in our darkest hour even if we never understood why.

The night before  we attended our final Lenten Bible Study where the theme for the evening as well as most of the study was about trusting God, which appeared to be strengthening us for our future adversities.

We went quite early for our 9 A.M. appointment and waited sullenly and in silence for our summoning. When the geneticist called us into her office we walked in quite a daze down the hallways. This was the moment that we never expected in twenty one years. We would find out if my wife and potentially all of our offspring carried the deadly gene. The geneticist had a slight smile that every person in a cancer ward appeared to possess so as to assist in creating a hopeful and positive attitude. We sat next to each other, hand in hand awaiting relief from the numbness just to know our fate. Very quickly the geneticist pulled a large stack of papers and looked us in the eye saying “your results are negative, there is no (deadly)  gene present”. Tears of happiness flowed as we just sat stunned and a lifetime of worry dissipated slowly providing us with the fragrance and spirit of new life. A life redeemed. A life reborn.

The only thing we could do was smile and weep for deep joy.

Twice before God has worked unexpected miracles in seemingly hopeless situation with answers that we couldn’t even pray for. Luke Thomas and Hope births were truly demonstrations of the Lord’s miraculous power in desperate birth situations. In both of these cases we could only pray for His will and our understanding in seemingly hopeless situations yet He provided remarkable physical healings and their lives are constant reminders to us of His love and power.

God’s spirit was present as we walked back to our car holding each other closely knowing that my life, my treasure , my best friend, had been restored unblemished. I don’t know why some people have the gene and some don’t but at that moment all I knew that I was the most grateful man alive and the luckiest person to feel my wife’s  total relief as we held each other tight.

TeamSawyer in Kitchen Stadium competing on Iron Chef America

Iron Chef

It was an amazing experience to have witnessed a most exciting Iron Chef battle between the culinary Ninja TeamSawyer, (Sawyer, Seeholzer & Goodman) representing The Greenhouse Tavern vs  the newest Iron Chef Zakarian, in his first battle, and The Next  Iron Chef  contestant Alex Guarneschelli.

I was at the original taping and watched the airing at the party in The Greenhouse Tavern last night. I was interested to see how the editing was done and how it would be presented. Of course I am not a bystander but have a Father’s view concerning  the entire process.

The Energy, Passion, Pride and atmosphere of fun that is the hallmark of anything TeamSawyer does certainly could be felt and was very well represented in the episode. They just work like crazy Jedi Warriors, chatter relentlessly and have great fun while preparing amazing dishes. They cooked at a dizzying pace for one hour. I think an extraordinary energy level (as well as an abundance of tattoos) are prerequisite’s for TeamSawyer. It is as exciting watching them every day in the kitchen as it was watching them on Iron Chef.  What they are able to accomplish in brief periods of time is stunning ( made cheese in 1 hour! A first in Kitchen Stadium). Being at the Greenhouse Tavern last night was like being at a Rock concert in the mosh pit ( apologies to Chef BR). Exhausting, Exciting, and an Exceptionally Enjoyable time.

Now my comments. I had the same feeling as when Roy Jones Jr landed 86 punches to 32 of his Korean opponent at the Seoul Olympics only to astonishingly see the Gold Metal victory awarded to his opponent (after the match the South Korean boxer apologized because he knew Roy won). But that is how it works in the Olympic judging events, Show Biz & even Life. You don’t win all you deserve. Last night was like the viewing the Rolling Stones vs Perry Como ( do people still know who Perry is?).  The contrast was great like a manicured lawn maintained by British caretakers to  free range wild pioneer prairies lived on by energetic adventures, or like watching Kill Bill vs watching The English Patient.

A few insights:

First Course- TeamSawyer’s trio of highly creative ( the Che’vre Goat Salad w Sausage, Zuccinin Mint Fritters & Mint Poached Ohio Sweet Corn  vs raw vegetables & dip that my grandson could make with a nice cocktail from Alex. When one judge said “perfect”  when tasting raw vegetables I knew that the Jedi masters would not win. (I do like raw veggies but never considered them IC worthy no matter how tasty a side of dip was).

Main Course- Oxtail with marrow & mint vs Duck that the nicest thing the judges could say was that it should have “only been looked at” because it was not editable (and they left the course on their plates at the taping).

Judge comments during taping “ we like dessert and drinks” (is that really what Iron Chef is?)

When one judge who, during the taping, kept referring to ICJZ as “Jeffery” said “ I’m sorry but Jeffery is my drinking buddy”.  In the Olympics or at Iron Chef I guess judges do not recuse themselves.

I sat in a place where I could see all the camera shots on video screens and not only were they overwhelmingly of TeamSawyer but all Alton Brown talked about was how creative and unique their dishes were.. So getting edged out in points in creativity and taste was quite “curious”. This also was how the show portrayed the contest as most of ICJZ shots were of Alex making a teal colored cocktail The editing was excellent and did convey the feeling of the event most accurately and the comments were obviously accurate but like any quote if time allowed all of the comments would have been great to hear.

During the tasting not one piece of TeamSawyer’s dishes were left on the plates & they wanted more of the Fish Pie in a wonderful broth of Hake under a  puff pastry and the braised oxtail . They raved on about both.

I certainly will state that I am certain that all of Iron Chef Zakarian’s dishes except for the main course Duck were very delious but mostly the mint was a side add and not part of the process but that may have made it more noticeable. I believe his langostinos were a great tasting dish but shrimp cooked in mint is something I do at home.

At the taping and before I knew the results, I wrote my scores based on what I perceived from the judges comments yet knew how it would shake out. So here is my scores: 51- 45 TeamSawyer or 51-48 (my score card 9/6 taste, 4/5 use, 4/5 plating- TeamS  ICJZ respectively). However I was aware that these scores would not be reflected in the “final tally”.I may have missed something but I have reviewed my original notes and watched the episode 4 times and my conclusions are mostly the same.

So the lesson is – be passionate & love what you are doing, work insanely hard & have great fun competing. All else is a bonus. I am very proud of the work energy & ethic that was portrayed and all the positive Cleveland PR. Jon loves Cleveland & has a most outstanding team. This clearly came through. Ask yourself- what would you rather taste and on whose team would you rather work. TeamSawyer is the real winner in my mind. I must say one other thing that I also state when someone asks since it reflects my views on life and priorities:

“ Jonathon is a great chef but and even better father, husband and son”.

Marriage Reflections, Retreat, and Hocking Hill

Marriage  Reflections:

Marriage is a blessed sacrament, ordained by God, between a man and a woman. Two people truly become one as they discard their old selfish and independent ways and becomes one being united in selflessness and sacrifice.  Successful marriages are the gift that we give back to God .

 Although God blesses and sanctifies the holy union, like salvation we are required to put effort into what can be the most beautiful and blessed experience. The Lord  wants us to grow in our oneness as husband and wife. This requires continual self-examination and hard work.  In life’s endeavors one receives the benefits equal to the efforts expended yet in marriage God multiplies your contributions much greater than any worldly investment and produces true riches that never perish.

One of my observations is that strong marriages, those where the couples appear to really enjoy their life together and possess inner contentment, are those who share special moments and activities and have heavily invested in developing mutual interests and enjoyments. This usually begins with establishing positive and uninhibited communications. Which leads us to our Marriage Retreat to Hocking Hills.

Why go to Hocking Hills for a Retreat?

We go on marriage retreats to experience the joy of just being. To experience each other without all the distractions of life. It seems to me that one of the great gospel lessons is to stay focused on the one true goal. To eliminate all of the deadlines, pressures, and life requirements by retreating to a place where there is no agenda is how  we personally strengthen our mutual enjoyments in an atmosphere of stillness and nature.

People ask us “What do you do.” The answer is “not much” except be together without any plans or agenda. The only thing that we must do is eat when we are hungry, and walk the dogs. There is no cell or web access. We do not drive to get a paper while listening to the news.  The television does have cable so there may be a few rare moments when we just check to see if there was any great news but mostly we are “entertained” by soft classical music and at this time it is all Christmas classics. Mostly we are isolated from civilization and enjoy just being together with nothing planned. We are secluded in a natural wood cabin deep in the woods where we spend most of the time reading, writing, and cooking together. We have some gentle communication as topics occur and share what we have read or were pondering.

We may watch a movie, usually an old film noir, or relax at night in the hot tub. The day passes slowly and every moment if full a simple pleasure. We take the dogs on one or two hikes each day, dine on spectacular meals, and generally cleanse our minds of stress and worry. We can enjoy each other apart from all the issues of life. These times better equip us to remain one when confronted with daily challenges. Time disappears and even the day becomes vague as we seek to become lost in the moments of living.

We make measured progress in absorbing and discussions from the massive stacks of books that we have brought with us. Since we have no set agenda yet deep inside we hope to finish one book and many short writings and make good progress on many others. One of our favorite past times is to each read the same short story or essay and share our comments with each other in our personal study group. It is not just relaxing but more like the simplicity and beauty of Thoreau’s Walden Pond . Living in the moment to appreciate the grandness of life. To wander among one’s thoughts and creative urges while belonging to a timelessness that is captured by a falling snowflake, a cold Winter breeze, a warm glow from the fireplace while reading beautiful  French poetry or dining on an elegant meal of truffles with scrambled egg and wine. Uniting with nature and simplicity of life, in a cabin retreat, is linkage to a timeless past. Every age has had people who valued the terrible beauty and grandeur of nature in a relatively unrestricted state. 

Boring? Maybe to some but to us it is glorious!