How sweet it is.....

Life that is.... family, friends, nature, beauty, spirit. Life is grand, if not bittersweet, and time with our loved ones is too short, yet perfect at the same time. Just some musings from one who is spending more and more time with an elderly mother who is increasingly more frail and whose time on the planet is winding down. I have so many friends who are experiencing this now... caring for our elderly parents, and/or having lost them already. I lost my father about 13 years ago, and I still miss him. My inner knowing tells me my mother will soon be leaving.... and I find myself making more time to spend with her, and a protective spirit I have for her, to do whatever it takes to make her last days, months, years - whatever she has left - as joyful, meaningful, and comfortable as possible. Death is a reality of life, part of the yin-yang of existence, and but the blink of an eyelash.... and we never stop missing those whom we love, even though it may eventually get easier to accept. I am also reminded how important it is to live in the moment and savor each day. Each day is a gift, ripe with potential. Some may be joyful, some sorrowful, but each one is a gift in its own way. At this time of year when "gifts" abound, I find it important to meditate upon the deeper meaning of the word....

Now on to the "gift" of lyme disease. Well.... in some sense we can call it a gift, for it has helped me slow down, re-group, re-frame and re-think my life and what is most important and close to my heart. It came into play at the same time we moved from a busy city life in California to a slower-paced country life on an island in the Puget Sound, and it came at a time when I had retired from a career of many years with a desire to ratchet down my stress and activity levels all the way around. Had it not been for lyme disease knocking on my door, I'm not sure I would have learned the lessons I've learned, and really been able to overhaul my lifestyle, including the healthy eating piece, without something so "big" in my face. So in that sense I am grateful for the experience and, at the same time, I am also very grateful that it now takes less and less precedence in my world.

Something I find really exciting is that I haven't taken an aspirin for at least a couple of weeks now. You may remember that for over a year I relied on aspirin (generally four per day) to help manage the severe inflammation in my joints and to take the edge off of joint pain. The only joint pain I am experiencing now is in my knees, and that's only if I squat as far as I can. I've also noticed that since I have stopped taking aspirin, a nagging pain in my liver area has cleared up - no big surprise there.

The food allergy thing can also be looked at as a gift, for that is what has, more than anything, literally commanded my attention to eating in a healthful way. I truly don't have a choice. In my last post I mentioned that I had hives again from what I ate on my 10 day trip to Hawaii. The hives are still running their course - once I get them, they last 3 weeks or more. They are itchy little monsters, and I will be all too happy to see them go away. Nothing stops the itching for long, and I have found that once they start, any type of sugar, whether cane sugar, honey, agave or whatever, will trigger the itching. On the cruise ship I ingested far more sugar than I usually do, as well as wheat, which I know is what triggered the hives. So now I have to stay away from these completely for awhile, until the hives have run their course, and then I should be able to go back to a little honey or agave from time to time.

That being said, I was intrigued to find a new sugar alternative on the shelf on our grocery store the other day - one I hadn't heard of before. It is called "Coconut Secret" and is raw coconut crystals. It claims to provide a low glycemic sugar alternative. It's gluten-free, unbleached, unrefined, non-GMO, vegan, pesticide and chemical-free, and is made with sap from coconut palms. It also claims to provide an abundant source of minerals, amino acids, vitamin C, broad-spectrum B vitamins, live enzymes, and a neutral pH. Says it can be used in tea, cereal, and "all your favorite dessert recipes". Wow! If this is true, what a find. I wish I could remember what I paid for this little cannister - I'm sure it was pricey. But it may be worth it, especially since I need to make a couple of gluten-free desserts for Christmas Day. So I'll let you know more about it once I experiment with it a bit. Erick tasted it last night (it looks a bit like brown sugar). He was skeptical, as he is not a huge fan of coconut (texture and taste), but he proclaimed it delicious and said it doesn't taste like coconut, but it nicely sweet.

If you're interested in learning more about this potential sweetening wonderment, go to www.coconutsecret.com.

Counting the days down to Christmas. If you haven't seen it, there is a really fun Advent Calendar on the internet at the site of amazing English Artist Jacquie Lawson, who does beautiful internet greeting cards. We have been having wonderful fun checking the virtual snow globe every day to see what's new in the village. Go to: www.jacquielawson.com.

Special love to my sisters who are dealing with the losses or critical illnesses of parents right now - I love you ladies. And wishing jolly holidays to us all, as we surely all deserve them! Besides the most important three little words (I Love You, of course), remember the other three most important little words (from Ram Dass), Be Here Now! Today is a gift, that's why they call it the present....

Big Aloha love,

Sukie