I love crackers. I really do. Salted or unsalted is fine. No nuts or flavoring needed. Just plain crackers are wonderful. I have many memories of being a kid and going through a whole box of crackers, sometimes with peanut butter, sometimes with jelly, sometimes with butter, and sometimes with a combination of all of those. But most of the time, it was just me and pure simple crackers.
Flash forward many decades and I am now gluten intolerant. Oh, you can’t imagine the many years of unappetizing gluten free crackers that I have suffered through. Crackers that are too soft, too chewy, too hard, or just too bad.
My Day Has Finally Come
I recently discovered a brand of plain gluten free crackers that are everything a cracker should be. They are crispy, light, and have just the slightest touch of salt. They remind me so much of the way things used to be…except they are brittle as anything. The brittle-est of brittle where the mere curve of my palm will cause them to collapse.
Adjusting Expectations
Their delicate nature is not too bad when I am eating them plain, but any attempts to reminisce with peanut butter or jelly are met with inevitable destruction. No matter my means of application or gentleness of touch, the results are always the same. Cracker shards everywhere.
From where I stand, I have three options. I can 1) reject these crackers as yet another disappointment, 2) begrudgingly tolerate them until something better comes along, or 3) embrace them as my “new normal” (e.g., a world where crackers fall apart) and allow myself to celebrate the fulfillment of my fixation.
Of course, you know what the correct answer is (loaded words such as “reject” and “begrudgingly” should be a tip off!), but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy choice.
Appreciation Vs. Wishing
Whether we’re talking about mundane things like crackers or less mundane things like spending time with loved ones, why is it sometimes so difficult to celebrate what we have when we are focused on what we don’t have?
Well, I think some of us are afraid that if we allow ourselves to appreciate our current lives, this will prevent a better future from happening. Or, that if we take pleasure in what’s happening today, this will invalidate the wonderfulness of yesterday.
Thankfully, the world doesn’t operate this way.
How much more satisfying would our day to day lives be if we could be present and live fully now, rather than waiting for tomorrow to come? It would serve each of us well to intentionally and clearly choose today, while also striving for something better in the future.
In the end, a broken cracker tastes the same as a whole cracker, and although I may scan the grocery shelves for new brands, I am still really happy to come home to my delicate and delicious crumbs of childhood. #DrDug #LittleThingsFromDrDug
