As I type this, I’m taking a break from packing boxes. Three years ago we moved into this apartment and got rid of a bunch of stuff–we were going from a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom place to a smaller 1/1. I’ve tried to purge things every year or so that we’ve been here, and each time I’ve done it I’ve been appalled at the amount of stuff I’ve been able to give or throw away. You’d never guess what can fit in the nooks and crannies of this little place when one is as orderly as I am. But just because I CAN make it fit doesn’t mean I need to.

And so, as I pack these boxes, I’m reflecting on excess and enough.

Last week Andy and I went to our first Passover Seder. It was a really special experience, and one of the prayers in particular really stuck with me the rest of the week.

dayenu

Dayenu means “it would have been sufficient.” There’s an upbeat song you sing that goes through a list of things God did for the Jews that would have been sufficient:

If He had brought us out from Egypt, and had not carried out judgments against them Dayenu, it would have sufficed us!
If He had carried out judgments against them, and not against their idols Dayenu, it would have sufficed us!
If He had destroyed their idols, and had not smitten their first-born Dayenu, it would have sufficed us!
If He had smitten their first-born, and had not given us their wealth Dayenu, it would have sufficed us!
If He had given us their wealth, and had not split the sea for us Dayenu, it would have sufficed us!

and on and on…

But the peppiness of the song to me belies the deep truth of the words. God ultimately led the Jews out of slavery and into the Promised Land, but they’re saying that if He had stopped at the first thing He did for them, that would have been enough.

dayenu

It’s so different from the way I tend to approach gratitude. I tend to focus so much on what I don’t have or what I want to get next that I don’t reflect on what I do have.

If I only had this small apartment, and hadn’t just been presented with the opportunity to buy a larger condo, it would have been enough.
If I only had enough clothes to wear the same few outfits, and didn’t have the option to choose different accessories every day, it would have been enough.
If I only had food on the table, and didn’t have fresh organic vegetables to serve, it would have been enough.

I’m not trying to cheapen the solemn prayer by putting it parallel to my possessions. Rather, I think it’s a beautiful reflection that we can apply not only to whatever our concept of a deity is but to our everyday lives.

We’re getting rid of things once again as we go through the packing process. And though I know I have more things than I strictly need, I don’t feel like it’s exorbitant. My things make me happy. And so I should be thankful for them. Because if I only had a fraction of what I’ve been fortunate enough to accumulate, it would have been enough.

dayenu

It’s a little more back to normal this week, although Andy will be out of town starting on Tuesday so I’m going pretty basic for myself a few nights. I feel like I’ve been eating like crap, partly due to all of our eating out, so I’m trying to make sure we have healthy snacks on hand!

SUNDAY
pork tenderloin and mushrooms
sweet potatoes
salad

MONDAY
A friend of a friend has a french fry food truck, and he’s doing a pop-up at a restaurant in Midtown that we’re going to check out!

TUESDAY
In a continuation of keeping it simple, I’ll eat at trivia. We haven’t been in ages, so I’m excited to go back!

WEDNESDAY
macaroni and cheese (YES, from a box…the last time I made this I literally ate the whole box…)
salad
cut-up watermelon

THURSDAY
slow-cooker turkey sloppy joes
frozen french fries

FRIDAY
frozen pizza
cut-up vegetables

SATURDAY
sweet and tangy sausage
zucchini
corn-on-the-cob

What’s on your plate this week?

The majority of the links I have to share with you this week are about food. SORRY NOT SORRY. I like reading recipes online, what can I say?

Peach syrup, Jack Daniels, and ginger ale? [Fill my glass!](http://www.southyourmouth.com/2014/04/tennessee-honey-hole.html)

I totally want to [go to Florida](http://www.yesandyes.org/2014/04/things-to-do-in-florida-if-you-dont-like-amusement-parks.html) and do all of these things: tiki bars? Cuban food? mermaids?!

[Baked eggs with spinach and mushrooms](http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2014/04/baked-eggs-with-spinach-and-mushrooms/). I wonder how well this would keep leftover? I could see making a big batch over the weekend to eat for breakfast all week!

I love looking at this [nourish bowl](http://inspiredrd.com/2014/03/i-may-eat-this-every-day-for-the-rest-of-my-life.html) and I wish one would appear to me every day for lunch. But I doubt I would ever have it together enough to have all the ingredients on hand in order to make this easily.

My first obligatory share from Seth Godin, but it's a good one: ["Treat different people differently. Anything else is a compromise."](http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2014/04/all-the-same.html)

My week in tweets:

I will never again follow a recipe's instructions to "heat oil until shimmering." Epic grease splatters & the hottest pan ever ensued.

— Laura Lindeman (@lclindeman) April 14, 2014

The pan got hot enough that it SCORCHED a wooden trivet. SCORCHED.

What if I've just watched the last episode of Parenthood that there ever is?!

— Laura Lindeman (@lclindeman) April 18, 2014

There’s talk that Parenthood might not be renewed for a sixth season! So sad!

This morning we signed a bunch of papers at a lawyer's office and then they gave us these keys! #achievementunlocked pic.twitter.com/SEuQbupdwB

— Laura Lindeman (@lclindeman) April 15, 2014

Oh right, and we closed on our first place!

What’s the best thing you’ve read this week? Did you have any grease geysers? Or buy a home? Or, you know, eat anything good?

Miranda Lambert has a new song out called “Automatic.”

She reminisces about pay phones, drying laundry on the line, cassette tapes, hand-crank car windows, and mailing letters, among other things, and then she reaches the chorus, in which she laments:

Hey, whatever happened to waitin’ your turn
Doing it all by hand,
‘Cause when everything is handed to you
It’s only worth as much as the time put in
It all just seemed so good the way we had it
Back before everything became automatic

Now, look. I’m a notorious late adopter. I’ll poo-poo a new trend for weeks, months, or even years, until all of a sudden I one day HAVE TO HAVE IT. And I’ve been known to express wariness over changes to things I’ve always liked. And yet, I have such a strong reaction to this song.

Why do we idealize the times when we had to do everything by hand? What’s so wrong with automatic? At its best, technology makes our lives easier and frees up time for us to focus on the things that are important to us. It makes communication a breeze, it makes doing research faster, and it makes the whole world our oyster. Sure, people abuse it. We’ve all been guilty of staring at our phones when we’re eating dinner with our friends or even our family. But let’s have a conversation about using technology well, rather than one about the happy golden days of yore.

Yore is gone. Technology is here to stay, and is going to keep evolving. And I’m not sure automatic is such a bad thing.

My back has been hurting lately.

I feel like an 85-year-old even typing that sentence, but it’s true.

It started on our recent trip to Ireland. I chalked it up to be scrunched into two different airplane seats for hours at a time, spending a lot of time riding in the car (through beautiful Irish country side, but still), and transitioning from one unfamiliar mattress and pillow to another in the B&Bs where we stayed. But we got home and it was literally keeping me up at night some nights because I just couldn’t get comfortable.

So I emailed my mom to ask for some back stretches, and she reminded me that everything is connected. You know, the hip bone’s connected to the back bone” and all that jazz. I’ve been trying to stretch out my hips and hamstrings as well as my back and it seems to be helping some, but the dull ache sort of comes and goes.

And then I read this post that an acquaintance wrote. He’s been dealing with a debilitating back injury for over two years, and it all started with some innocuous enough lower back pain.

Here’s what he writes:

Take care of yourself before it’s a requirement. I’m not saying this injury wouldn’t have happened regardless, but I have a feeling that if I’d gotten my body to a state of true functionality, strength, and mobility in the past, I wouldn’t be dealing with this issue right now. If it had happened anyway, a more healthy body would’ve likely allowed for a quicker recovery. Since late high school and through college, I worked out routinely and ate fairly healthy (I at least knew how I should be eating, even if I didn’t always follow my own knowledge). However, I never truly dedicated myself 100% to getting my body to a functional state of operation. It’s so much easier, cheaper, and enjoyable to take preventative measures for your health than it is to deal with injuries, sickness, and dysfunction. It’s worth your time and effort to eat healthy, exercise, mind your posture, maintain flexibility and mobility, and visit the chiropractor & massage therapist before it’s a requirement! Not taking care of my body to my fullest ability and extent is my largest regret in the past—going forward will be a different story. Take care of your body!

His injury is no joke y’all! I think I’ve really been sitting too much lately. I haven’t been eating as well, I haven’t been exercising as much, and I really feel like I can tell my hips get tighter throughout the day as I sit at my desk at work, sit on the couch at home, etc. etc. I need to for real dedicate to some stretching.

I will say, I’ve read some articles suggesting that stress can play into muscle pain, too, and there has been a lot going on in my life lately, so I’m sure that’s part of it. But I still know there are some physical things I can do to start ameliorating the problem. Hopefully I’ll feel more comfortable, sleep better, and have a healthy back for the long haul!

Have you dealt with any unexpected physical issues? How do you deal with out-of-your-norm aches and pains?