1/11/2026
The breakfast photo above may look familiar, and that is because it is. I have served Keshav a Mango Lassi smoothie before, but this time I combined it with a bowl of protein granola. You will notice that I put the milk in a container on the side so that he can add the amount of milk he wants. This is controversial because sometimes he does not know how much milk he wants on his granola. He does like the Mango Lassi and it couldn't be simpler to make: diced frozen mango, yogurt, milk, honey, and a dash of cardamom.
Mango is one of his favorite fruits--it may be his top favorite. The list is not long, let me tell you--I think that there are bananas and apples on the list and on occasion oranges. Oh, and strawberries, but I can't slice them, he only likes them whole. He won't touch blueberries because they are round but I can put them in a smoothie and he won't complain. I think I like granola more than he does, but some days it is just easier to pour a bowl of it than to make something from scratch.
If his preferences make you think he is "picky", then you don't know him. His preferences are just preferences, not fussiness. We all have preferences, don't we? Except that we don't usually think of them as such--and we assume that ours are perfectly natural!
*
Do you have a song that pulls you back into your youth?
I recently stumbled across a video on YouTube from the 1980 film Fame. The video was of the song "I Sing The Body Electric", which was the final song of the film. The setting was the graduation of the High School of the Performing Arts in New York City, and this song was their graduation presentation. The entire class was involved: musicians, singers, dancers. The song really is electric, and the lyrics ruminate on possibilities in the future: "I celebrate the me yet to come", which is a perfectly appropriate line for high schoolers to be singing.
Remember high school? I do. Like the characters in the film, I also graduated in 1980, though we didn't do a huge musical number like they did. We did have an awesome "Senior Play", where there were several performances by the seniors. I remember being part of a small skit within the group of performances, and I truly felt like I had made it because if you were part of the Senior Play then you were in! Of course, I was also a closeted homosexual, so I was never truly "in", but it was fun to feel like I was for a part of my final year in high school.
One number in the play was a choreographed dance to the song "Come To Me", by France Joli. I fucking loved this song and still do--it is a disco classic that came out in 1979 and started as many disco classics did--slowly, until the beat kicked in and off we go. I even remember who choreographed the song in the show, her name is Denise Schwartz, and we were friendly to one another in high school. I was not a dancer at the time, but I remember being completely mesmerized by the idea of choreography.
I sometimes wish I had grown up on the East Coast so I could have attended the High School of the Performing Arts. Although my desire to perform bloomed late, there is a chance I would have wanted to go there had there been an opportunity. When I look up the cast of the movie now, many of them are in my age range, and one of the main characters actually became a therapist, like me. Of course, it is not so strange for actors to become therapists.
Whenever I hear the song "I Sing The Body Electric", I am pulled back to that time of my life, and the soaring strings at the beginning of the song remind me of the excitement I felt, at the time, for the future. That is the beauty of high school--your whole adult life is ahead of you. Truth is that most of the dreamers in high school go on to live perfectly normal lives--many a dream has faded in the harsh reality of paying bills and rent or raising a family.
But we can't all be dreamers.
I didn't really have a dream at the time, and I wonder if that is why I ended up leading an extraordinary life--I just kept trying new things that interested me. I did actually become a dancer, actor, and singer, and I had experiences as a performer and creator of art that I would never trade for a million billion dollars. When I look at my 63 year-old face in the mirror, I still see that person, because I still try new things that interest me. I don't perform anymore, but that doesn't mean I have stopped singing and dancing. Not by a long shot.
High school can feel like a drug at times--and when it is over it is sometimes a harsh let down. High school can be hell for some as well, and I notice that those who suffered often do better in life afterwards than those who were on the top. I was fortunate to be somewhere in the middle, on the edge of those who were suffering and those who were on top. But that is where I feel I have lived my entire life: on the edge. And I married someone who has lived likewise.
He likes Mango Lassis, so you will likely see more of them in these pages. On occasion, it will be paired with granola, with milk on the side.
Comments
Post a Comment