Reminiscent of Another Life

Last night I had this genius idea. I said to myself, "Self? You know what you should do tomorrow? You should cook dinner!" and I decided I was going to make cashew chicken.

So there I was at lunch time today, shoveling a few slices of Paula Deen's zucchini bread into my face, when I remembered, "Oh yeah! I'm going to cook dinner tonight!" I started thinking about the process of making cashew chicken, and I realized that I can't make cashew chicken because the chicken is frozen. Now, I know that there are some simple solutions to this problem, but I'm kind of a stickler about thawing food. I'm a thaw-in-the-fridge kind of girl... it's practically a religion for me. There is no microwave thawing or, gasp! cooking with frozen chicken in my house.

This realization got me thinking about the olden days... you know, 31 weeks ago when I wasn't pregnant. Back then I cooked. I made meal plans. I knew well ahead of time when I needed to thaw chicken; I rocked at thawing chicken.

Even though pregnancy is short in the grand scheme of things, I feel like that was another lifetime. For the past seven months, I've become accustomed to not cooking. On the rare occasion when I have cooked, I haven't been able to eat it because a) I have really bad taste aversion and b) by the time I've cooked it, I no longer want it. For the time being, we survive off quickly prepared meals like cereal, pancakes, toast, green smoothies, and sandwiches, and when I can't find something quick and easy, we eat out (this happens more often than I'm willing to admit).

Sometimes I have these weird moments where I remember a piece of the non-pregnant me (which, I assume, is the "real" me, but since I don't currently exist as that person, I have a hard time recognizing her as "real"). Take the other day, for instance, when I heard another mother proclaim that she doesn't buy sugar cereal. I thought about the Lucky Charms stowed away in my pantry and contemplated what life would be like as a mother who doesn't buy sugar cereal. Then I had this sorta "deja vu" moment where I realized that I don't buy sugar cereal. Or at least I didn't before I was pregnant... back when health trumped the "anything I can stomach" diet.

It's hard to fathom in my current situation that some day I might be the "real" me again. There will come a time when I can go an entire day without a nap. My back won't hurt constantly. I'll be able to run an errand without getting completely wiped out. I'll enjoy cooking, reading, and writing again. I'll be able to buckle my strappy silver sandals without making offensive noises. I'll be able to go more than two hours without peeing. I'll stop waking up my entire family every night with my boisterous third trimester sleep farts (just being honest here). I'll stop having heart burn. I'll vacuum once in  awhile.

And thawing chicken will be a piece of cake.

In the meantime... can someone get me a cake?