What the Vegetables Knew

I watched a man pack vegetables for his flight. I haven't run in ten months. I'm still working out which one says more about me... Friday's Digest #162

Life Update

I was in an airport lounge.

You know, that place you hang out in before your flight. Everything's included, kind of a buffet.

So I took some bread, cottage cheese, a glass of red wine. Reasonably healthy.

Then I took a pastry. Then something fried. Then another pastry. Not that healthy anymore.

I really shouldn't have. But I did.

Next to me was a man, around 70 years old.

His plate was all vegetables.

Some he ate. Some he packed into a container for the flight.

That's technically not allowed.

But nobody in that lounge seemed to care.

That man wasn't performing anything.

He was just eating vegetables. Quietly.

The way some people just do.

Number 162!

What the Vegetables Knew

🔵 A Man and His Container

I didn't judge him.

If anything, I admired him.

My parents' generation is full of people like this.

Vegetables aren't a decision, they're just what's on the plate.

When I tell my parents I don't eat enough vegetables, they’re genuinely surprised.

Not because I'm their son, but because in their world, it was never something you had to put any effort into.

Somewhere between their generation and mine, eating vegetables became something you worked hard to make happen.

Why do we eat fewer vegetables?

Convenience? Rapid pace of life?

I don't know.

I just noticed the gap.

Sitting there at the airport, with my wine and my fried thing.

Watching a 70-year-old being better than me without trying.

🔵 Every Direction Is Uphill

I haven't run in ten months.

I live right next to a park, but every route from there is uphill.

Which makes the beginning of the run difficult.

That's my excuse, anyway.

Excuse for not running.

Some other things have been hard this year, too. Harder than running uphill.

I don't know if that's a reason or just another excuse.

Probably both.

🔵 The Man With the Container, Again

I keep coming back to him. Not because I want to be him exactly.

But because he eats vegetables so naturally.

I also do hard things naturally.

Things most people would never do. For example, I get up at 5:00 am, and by 6:00 am I’m already at my computer working. Naturally.

So why not add vegetables and run to the mix?

Perhaps I can only do one crazy thing at a time?

Remains to be seen.

You know what? I’m going to cut some vegetables right now.

Just to shut me up 😉

Epilogue

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That’s it for this issue.

See you next week!

Shay

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