Forget horoscopes, a psychiatrist or fortune teller. How one likes their eggs is a better barometer for life.
You can’t make a life without breaking a few eggs.
T.U.F.F. Momma
Stay with me here. This gets interesting.
My sister and parents often share a funny childhood story of going out to a breakfast cafe with me. I believe I was in my early teens when this fateful story began. At the cafe, Dad told my sister and I to pick out what we wanted for breakfast. I recall seeing a breakfast skillet on the menu that looked good and came with eggs any style. At that time in my life, I wasn’t very worldly in the culinary sense. I actually thought that “any style” was a specific type of egg preparation.
{I know… Sigh.}
When the waitress asked for my order I simply said, “I’d like the breakfast skillet with eggs any style.”
The waitress said, “how would you like your eggs?”
Thinking perhaps she didn’t hear me, “Any style” I replied.
The waitress said, “Yes, you can have them cooked any style. How would you like them?”
“I’d like them any style, please.”
The patient waitress turned to my Dad and Mom with a pleading look in her eyes to translate. My Dad said, “Vashon, please choose how you’d like your eggs prepared.”
Getting a little annoyed, I pointed to the menu, “It says right here that this breakfast skillet comes with eggs any style. I’d like my eggs cooked that way!”
By this time my whole family was cracking up and the waitress was looking a bit annoyed. Through crying laughter, my Mom turned to the waitress and said, “Please just scramble them for her.”
When the waitress left, I turned to my family, still not getting the joke. I said “I wanted to try something new. Why couldn’t I have them any style?”
It took a long time for my family to stop laughing and explain it to me that “any style” wasn’t a type of egg preparation, is was a choice.
Then, I was embarrassed.
I couldn’t make eye contact with the waitress when she returned with our meals.
“Any Style” symbolized the innocence of not knowing. Not knowing what you want in life. Not knowing all the choices that are available to you. It was the epitome of “you don’t know what you don’t know.”
My emotions at that point in my life were as muddled as the pile of golden scrambled eggs atop my breakfast skillet. “Scrambled” was exactly how my self-confidence felt as an awkward young teen.
Fast forward to my college days. I wasn’t the partying or drinking type. I was more concerned with my GPA. I was driven to succeed. It makes sense that my go-to quick breakfast of my college days was hard boiled. “Hard Boiled” was exactly how I felt back then. The competition to get a good, high paying job out of college was fierce and I was determined to be the best in my class.
Later on, after graduating, I accepted my first corporate job. In my working life, my preference was a veggie and cheese omelet. A fancy, sophisticated breakfast treat that looked all dressed up on the outside and an explosion of creative color on the inside. This seemed fitting for the creative field I went into as a graphic designer. I also made it a point to be well dressed in nice business attire. This was important to me because I wanted to climb that corporate ladder to the top of my field. “Dress to impress!” my Mother had always said.
Life ebbed and flowed from there with marriage, two kids, moving here and there. Even my preferred style of eggs changed.
It seems fitting that in my first marriage, my ex-husband’s preferred style of eggs were over easy. As it was easier to cook our eggs at the same time, in the same way, it became my go-to method of preparing our eggs. Even though, I really didn’t like them as much that way, I wanted to keep things simple.
Indeed, after 13 years of trying to make it work, the marriage was “Over Easy.”
I contemplated this over breakfast this morning with my loving Ron, my 2nd marriage and forever husband. I looked over at our plates and smiled.
Can you guess what our preferred style of eggs are most mornings?
You guessed it… sunny side up!
The funny thing is, I’ve always loved sunny side up eggs even when I was a small child. Both my husband and I find it fun to dip our toast into them and soak up the gooey goodness.
Just like our marriage. I’m soaking up every delicious drop and focused on the sunny-side of life. Life is what you make it. Choose wisely.
How do you like your eggs?