Sunday Scribblings: Fridge Space

Powdered milk, a bag of chocolate chips, filtered water, taco spice packets, a half-consumed bag of spiral whole-wheat pasta, a few tablespoons of soured UHT milk (I was waiting to make buttermilk biscuits or pancakes but didn't have any eggs!)...some failed attempts at rolls that I'll be toasting into croutons for onion soup...

There's plenty of space in my fridge. And this Lent, I'm going to try to leave it that way. I cook a lot, usually kind of goofy things and end up forgetting I'm cooking for just one person instead of six, which means half of the meal ends up becoming leftovers. Leftovers always get thrown away. (I don't have a microwave). So, for the next forty days, I'm trying to purchase as little as possible. To use the kilos of rice and various bags of beans that are sitting in my pantry. Make my own bread. Be conscious and creative with what is going into my body.

And along with the extra fridge space, I'm hoping to make some extra life space. To be conscious and creative about what is going into my mind. For contemplation, for getting a little writing done, for finding my voice again. The past three years, I've fought tooth and nail to graft Portuguese into my DNA. To have it inhabit my cells, spill out in my breathing, and become as natural and blinking. Now that it has taken root, I've discovered that my English has become neglected, taken hostage by words that no are no longer foreign. I think in a amalgamation of the two languages, find myself struggling to find the right English word just out of my grasp, and too often for comfort, have to ask myself which language a word is in...

As a result, my voice, my writing, the part of me that stays grounded enough to dream, has lain dormant in hibernation, losing edge and flexibility.

People say that we only use about 10% of our brain capacity. Surely, there is room, space enough, for two or three languages in mine. It's simply a question of making sure they're inhabiting the right shelves. Any ideas on how to do a little spring cleaning up there? Nudge the words into the right places and not have them fraternizing quite so much? Help would be appreciated.

And now, I am off to clean out even more space in my fridge, fight off the heat and the languor of a warm Sunday afternoon with an apple, acerola, ginger smoothie. Mmmmmmmm