Lives Beginning at 40 and Taco Friday

You know that saying...Life begins at 40? Being in my forties, I contemplate (and even experience) that from time to time. But for my girlfriend Justine, it is really, truly happening. She just turned 40 in June and now…she is pregnant! So life really is beginning at 40 for her in a Big Way. She had a whirlwind tour around the block this year with a) losing a career job; b) getting married; c) meanwhile having health problems and at least one surgery that I know about; d) pulling out her San Francisco roots and moving back home to Connecticut; e) traveling to Egypt for her honeymoon and getting deathly ill and now f) discovering she is 10 weeks pregnant!

What better way to celebrate in her honor than with Taco Friday? Friday night’s dinner began Thursday with beginning the dehydration process of the soaked flax and sunflower seeds, mixed with onion and spices to make the taco shells. I wasn’t confident at all that they’d taste good, or more importantly have that crunchy texture I wanted, but forward I went, Corona in hand.

This is a recipe for three styles of tacos: trumpet mushrooms and fresh corn with salsa vinaigrette; jicama and Asian pear with lime and avocado salsa; mango and tomatillo with cilantro and chili salsa. The tastiest was the Mango-Tomatilla Taco...this one I shall do again. But shockingly, the taco shells were crunchy and delicious! And very filling; all alive with omega 3's. We invited our neighbors Alane and Rick over (Alane being my fabulous compost teacher) . They ate every scrap and I took this as a good sign.

They don’t have kids either, and I think like us, it has caused them to embrace life in a different way than our parent-friends. Alane is involved in many projects involving sustainability, recycling and earth friendly endeavors including education…all this in addition to her day job as a gardener. After 40, she is just really starting to enjoy the respect of being a leader in her field and being involved in making a difference in our world. And me, realizing that I can be fullfulled without that son or daughter I knew I would have. I am living my life choices that I have carefully cultivated over the years and even though I still wish so much we could have raised a child, life is blooming in some beautiful ways I could have never imagined, and I can honor from a distance (with some relief, as I see how darn hard it is!) those friends who were blessed with the parenting path.

Dessert was my first attempt at a key lime pie, or what I describe as bitter-sour mealy pie. Looks good though, don’t it? And life goes on, and for all of us there are new beginnings, all the time. Congratulations, Justine and Aaron, and welcome to your Journey.
Rick, Alane and Daniel sitting down to Friday night tacos.