One recent morning my beloved and I pulled into the parking lot of the local hospital. Time for our blood draw. Twice a year our primary care doc orders lab work to keep tabs on our well-being.
We know this process is necessary to help us stay healthy, or, if needed, make adjustments to our diet or lifestyle. Nevertheless, getting poked by a needle for whatever reason is not the most fun one can have unless you have a penchant for watching a little stream of red swirl into clear vials.
Poked and padded with band aids, we were soon on our way. We had one more important stop.
You guessed it—the local bakery. However, our mission wasn’t that simple. Our first choice was closed and the second was sold out of the goodies. Stop number three—score! Exactly what we hoped for.
Why all the hoopla about a successful trip to pick up the powdered-sugar delights?
‘cause sometimes you gotta eat a doughnut. Or a soft-serve cone. Or a big cold milkshake. Take your pick or come up with one of your own.
My beloved and I are vigilant about what goes in our mouths. Not paranoid or fanatic. We use common sense in a desire to keep these senior bodies as healthy as possible.
The purpose of the gooey goodness—or any other treat you choose—is not to throw caution to the wind or abandon self-discipline to the feet of the food gods. The purpose is to have fun. To relax. To forgo the fiber for at least one meal and savor the sweet.
We began the doughnut-after-the-poke years ago when our children were young. Call it a bribe, but we like to believe the promise of a treat helped offset their concern with needles and vials. And it worked.
Which is why we continue the tradition today. After all, truth be known, we’re all kids at heart.
