I've been thinking about too much of a good thing and too little of it today.
I wanted something sweet so bad that I went to scrounge around in Mom's kitchen. I just had to have something! I looked high and low but could not find anything. I guess it was past time for my parents to make out another order to O Kraft & Son (Est. 1903) in Kodiak, because after my search I realized that we could definitely be mistaken for an outhouse!
I kept rechecking the cupboards when I opened a drawer and I saw a bag of brown sugar. Ah-ha! That will fill the bill! I got one of Mom's ol' green bowls, opened the bag and shook a bit of it in. I stopped, looked and thought oh I want more than that! I shook in a full bowl, quietly closed the bag and went back to my bedroom to read.
I read a lot when I was young but I don't know what I was reading then, maybe Gentle Ben by Walt Morey, one of the books I enjoyed very much about that time in my life. It was a story about a bear cub, raised in the Kodiak area, first by a drunken man and then, thankfully, by a young boy.
Other books I liked to read were in the school library and were about men and women from long ago. I liked the stories of the women most, but did read some of the guys stories too. Clara Barton, Florence Nightingale, Danielle Boone, Abraham Lincoln, etc. I wish I had this series of books. I've tried to find them online but I am guessing that they are out of print. :-( I don't even know where they were published or even what the series is called. I know the books were blue!
I plopped down onto my army cot bed and began to read while dipping my fingers into the sweet, sweet brown sugar. It would have been better for me and for the whole family if I had taken the time to bake something, but I had the "I want it and I want it now!" syndrome.
As I read, I wasn't aware that my body was gently saying "enough" and only realized that after I ate the WHOLE bowl! *bleah* "I can't believe I ate the whole thing!" (Remember ol' jello commercial?) Wave after wave of nausea made it difficult to enjoy the rest of the day as I paid for that brown sugared "too much".
After we finished reading our Bible together this morning, I commented that fire is so good. (It is -20 F this morning! Doug said, "Fire can be a friend and it can be a foe". So true. "Everything can be like that," he said.
Everything of anything when over indulged can become something not so good. Like brown sugar. :-)
Too much food = clothes don't fit. Too little food = brown sugar binges.
Too much fire = heat rash. Too little fire = everything freezes.
Too much talk = too much information. Too little talk = no communication.
Too much light = headaches. Too little light = bruised shins.
I can go on and on, but then that might be too much!
"Have you found honey? Eat only as much as you need, lest you be filled with it and vomit."Proverbs 25:16 Don't you just love the Proverbs?
Today in the Matanuska Valley... you should wear too much clothes!
6 comments:
I don't think I've ever eaten a bowl of sugar. But I do remember over-indulging as a child. Carmen and I made ourselves sick one day eating thimbleberries until our fingers and lips were so red it looked as though we were bleeding.
I have always struggled with moderation! If a little is good, more must be better right? Not necessarily so! Some lessons we just have to learn the hard way.
Have you ever heard of Dick Proenneke? PBS showed his story, "Alone In The Wilderness" last year and we enjoyed it so much that we bought the DVD. We took it home with us over Thanksgiving to show some friends and I could've sworn it said he lived near Big Lake. There are probably many lakes named that in a place as vast as Alaska but I thought I would ask.
Connie
I don't know this guy, and I have never even heard about him or his book. I would like to read his book after your comment and finding Dan Schneider's review about his journal/book though. http://www.cosmoetica.com/B183-DES127.htm
Looks like he built his cabin on Twin Lake. We live on a lake with the same name, but it's not the same lake. :-)
(Sorry for all the deletes, my post is not working right for me this morning.)
Here is the link for a web page detailing his 30 years in the Alaska Wilderness. He was dlightful and interesting in the DVD!
Connie
http://www.dickproenneke.com/index.html
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