Where there's Gold

I have recently come to the conclusion that maybe it isn't always the best to be rich. I'm not talking money, because let's face it, we all need the benjamins, but I'm talking rich... in life. Let me explain.
Today, I am rich in:

• Tomatoes. A certain roommate abandoned 6 whole tomatoes in the refrigerator before leaving for break... SIX large, plump, juicy, delicious tomatoes. The bleeding heart in me is determined to eat them all (so that they won't go to waste) before I leave, that is, to eat 6 tomatoes in the space of 2 days. The rationalist in me will throw them away an hour before I leave. 
• Bobby Pins... how is it that we can never find these little buggers until precisely when we don't need them?! I'm the queen of bobby pins today as I clean our apartment. They are spilling out of their hiding places, greeting me like the pied piper and following me across the floor as I try to vacuum. Its a bobby pin lottery up in here, and I have no hair that needs fastening. 
• Alone time. Ok, I'm probably being melodramatic because, in all honesty, I haven't really been that alone, a few very noble friends have made sure that I'm kept quite entertained. But, I woke up this morning in a house all empty and cold (that was my fault, I turned the heat  down a little... because... I just don't know why, the bed next to me was bare and my heart fell. Can't help it if I still believe in Christmas miracles that involve all the ones I love coming back to spend the night.   

But then I remember that its the little things like these that make life funny. I mean, seriously, what am I going to DO with all these tomatoes!? And so its important to be grateful for the excess too. Not because one day there will be a shortage of bobby pins... but because times like these teach us how to incorporate tomatoes into just about any recipe. 

I'm slowly learning that just about every choice and action can be an opportunity to prove yourself, to decide what is most important to you, what you like and who you are. At least... it feels that way in college. Years from now, I will look back and remember "the day when I learned how to be happy all alone". And I'll know that I could be perfectly fine being alone if I wanted to.

It goes something sort of like this:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace

--Reinhold Niebuhr

Which is a very token way of saying, no matter the oddities in life, I'm going to love and embrace them. Fully and happily. 

I was with a friend last night when he discovered that his very nice, very expensive bike (one that he was hoping to use during an ironman) had been stolen. After the initial "aw, this stinks", he said something that made me laugh.

"Well, now I can fit all my possessions in my car! I'm such a minimalist.... that bike was holding me back!"

I've never had anything substantial stolen. Maybe I could get people to start stealing my stuff so that I can be a minimalist too.

...Door's unlocked!