Bena Mae’s Kitchen: Mundane, trivial, ordinary

“I’ve spent the last few days walking around my quiet little neighborhood looking at the houses, the cars, the shops, the trees. I look at my wife, my neighbors, my cat. Then I close my eyes, and in that darkness I see it all wiped out, washed away, obliterated, shattered to kindling and utterly gone. I see a moonscape of annihilation, no reference points in sight, nothing familiar. I see the day after the end of everything, and the horror of it comes nowhere close to the reality that is Japan.” William Rivers Pitt.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sometimes the world has a way of hitting us with such a whammy that it makes us stop and assess what is important in our lives. More often than not, we take for granted what we see in our lives as mundane, trivial, ordinary. Today is like yesterday and tomorrow will be more of the same. And we go on our way, not realizing that it could all be taken away in a mini-second.
Catastrophic events in the past few years should be a wake up call, especially the latest one occurring a half a world away in Japan. It is almost too much to get our minds around. And we struggle for words, but there are no words to describe the horrendous devastation and human suffering. A natural disaster we call it. It makes us stop and think, what if it happened here? And that’s when the mundane, trivial, ordinary become so important.
This week as I drove around town, the signs of spring were everywhere. Homeowners, anxious to clear away the dregs of a cold weary winter, were busy raking, cutting away old brush and getting their yards ready for the onslaught of blooms that would follow. The trees were eagerly showing buds that were ready to burst into full bloom, giving a hint of their red and pink and white colors. Jonquils, forsythia, japonica and other flowering bushes were in bloom all over town, erasing the drab depressing look of winter.
The pink tulip tree next door is a delight to the eyes when I open my front door, as well as the jasmine border of tiny yellow flowers that grow in my neighbor’s yard across the street.  
I look up and down the street at the green lawns and the houses that stand strong and in no danger of being toppled and washed away in an instant. I watch as school children trek happily into school with no thought other than a day of learning and playing, no fear of toxic fumes or after-shocks. I chat with neighbors walking by, nothing important,  just pleasant conversation…“nice day… how are things going?”
I eat dinner and wish I could share it with those who have no food. I think about our grocery shelves that are stocked with everything from A to Z and wish it were the same in that shattered country where the shelves are so utterly bare. I live in a warm house and sleep in a comfortable bed and think of those who have no home, no bed.
I think about being ill and am comforted by the fact that excellent medical care is only fifteen minutes away.
I am grateful that my family is safe, the most important thing of all.
Today, I am secure in the knowledge that life will remain the same as yesterday, tomorrow and into infinity…mundane, trivial, ordinary.
And I thank God.

A good dessert for Easter dinner.

Creamsicle Cake
COOKS.COM

1 box orange cake mix
1 sm. vanilla instant pudding
1 c. & 1 tsp. milk
2 tsp. orange flavoring
1 sm. orange Jello
1 sm. Cool Whip
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix cake according to directions. Add 1 teaspoon orange flavoring to batter. Bake as directed. Make orange Jello (use 1/2 the water called for).
Make 18-20 holes in hot cake with wooden spoon. Pour Jello over the cake and cool. Mix pudding with milk, vanilla and orange flavoring. Add to Cool Whip and spread on cake. Refrigerate cake.