Last week my wife brought home "Babette's Feast"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092603/

Since we weren't going to visit my parents this weekend I decided to cook a brisket in the slow-cooker. Saturday I would make some home-made beef stock and Sunday a Wolfgang Puck brisket recipe.

Saturday night we watched the movie on a "stay-at-home" date night after running errands and shopping all day. The stock simmered while we watched the film. {If you aren't smiling and wiping a tear of joy from your eye at the end "You will so delight the angels", then I don't know what...)

This morning she slept in while I prepared the vegetables, braised the brisket and threw it all in the slow-cooker.

At this point I am 10 hours into it (granted 6 of those were waiting while bones roasted and stock simmered).

We will be eating this meat all week.

I did most of my prep work last night during the times my feet would have been killing me (and maybe they were -- I just didn't notice).

Which I guess is my point.

I learned from my experiences in 12 step fellowships that SERVICE is an important part of recovery (which is at its essence acceptance).

The simple fact is that when I was preparing all of this (mainly for the pleasure of my wife and for me to hear her making yummy noises), I didn't think about my pain at all. I was too focused on making it right. And even though I ended up staying up past my bedtime, when I tumbled into bed at 12:30 and began the familiar foot2foot massage to get a comfortable sleeping position, it wasn't 5 minutes before I was asleep.

Maybe when things at work slow down a bit I'll look for some other ways to be of service to others. The probability of forgetting my pain for a few hours is high and maybe I'll balance out some of my younger-life karma that needs scrubbing.


Cowboy

PS: As I slipped into bed last night I was informed that henceforth I will be known as "Babette".... sheesh.