Poll Position

As usual, my poll passion dwindled as the days awaiting my reader responses crept along. Either I don't have many readers, or you shy people don't like answering polls! I'd love to believe that latter, but I'm okay with my own reality... really.





Anyhow...





Let's talk about the polls and my position on the results.



We'll start with "What Do You Want Most in 2009," with a whopping two responses. It was a tie between "a job" and "love." I want the job, and I think I know who wants "love." I'd say either response is an honorable one, and if I did, in fact, have a job, a permanent, pay-check producing job... I may have chosen "love" as well. A funny little thing, this thing called "love." This past nine months has been the first time in my adult life that I have had all of the time in the world for it, love, and just about zero desire to seek it! Maybe I'm taking this survival thing to the extreme, maybe I haven't yet decided that I'm ready for it, and maybe I haven't found the one... but one thing is for sure: I still really want that job! And sadly... I know that I am one of hundreds of thousands that feel this exact same way. I want to be able to bring something to the table in a relationship, other than an empty wallet and stomach! And let's face it, love don't pay the bills!



And now... "Where Do You Most Often Eat Your Meals?" 3 responded (myself included) "on the couch," and 1 "at the dining room table." Hardly a large enough pool to provide a truly scientific argument... but, I feel an adequate representation of our eating habits today. Since my first acknowlegment of my own failure to make proper use of my DINING room table, I confess to only sitting at it about three times to eat. Something about sitting at a table with three empty chairs and eating a meal alone reduces the enjoyability of it. I have tried to sit there, simply enjoying a nice hot meal, alone, but I can't help but feel a nagging need to be doing "something else." Doing "something else," like searching for jobs on the internet, checking emails, or reading through research seems inappropriate at the table, and somehow very acceptable on the couch. I'm very aware of my own need to intently focus on the simple pleasures of life, therefore allowing yourself the true enjoyment of them... but I just can't seem to declutter my mind long enough to savor each grain of my oatmeal, or each sweet sip of my "freshly-squeezed," but sat in a cardboard container on a grocery store shelf for three days, orange juice. Even when my Mother and I had dinner here the other night, I refused the grace of my dining room table, this time appeasing her desire to watch T.V. up close and personal.

Eating at the table together is something I think is very UNDER-rated for parents and children. Sharing breakfast, or dinner, at least a few times a week, strengthens the bond of family, and implies a feeling a love and togetherness that every child needs. I can say this, because it is something I longed for. Even television families have ceased to eat at the table together, and look how "filthy" T.V. has become! I'm not saying eating meals at the table together will save the world, but if I even have a temporary visitor, I'm going to cherish that time at the table together.