Texture

Textures... they really are all around us.  Some we love, some we hate, some are somewhere in between. In matters of clothing, furniture, and food, I tend toward the textures I love - soft and smooth textures - and avoid the ones I consider unpleasant. It's too bad that in life, the choice is not always ours.

Week 24 of Photo 52: Texture

Even so, there are some textures we dislike, but which are good for us, I suppose. As one example, I really dislike the texture of beans... they're very grainy and VERY unpleasant to my tongue. This has been a very strong dislike of mine, since childhood.

Even knowing that beans are good for me, my tendency would be to avoid them at all costs. It took falling in love with a man from another culture - one for whom bean-n-rice is a staple and a comfort food... and it further took for my (then) future ma-in-law to come for a visit and prepare said bean-n-rice for us, much to my dread... rendering it impossible for me to say no to giving it a try. (How do you say no to your future ma-in-law??)

Well, turned out that when mixing bean-n-rice and cooking them properly together, I like it. Who'd have thunk? It's not a love, but it's decent. I still won't eat beans straight or in a broth based soup because I still hate the texture, but when mixed with rice or in a tortilla - when there is something there to balance out the texture - I'm okay with them... and even sometimes choose them, knowing there are such good health benefits there.

And so, I've found ways to enjoy beans well enough and incorporate them into my cooking, for Ar's benefit and for mine.

Wonder if I can sort of do the same with other unpleasant textures of life?  I spend a lot of time trying to get over certain things, trying to push through, only to find myself thrown back and feeling worse than ever.

Maybe I need a new strategy. Maybe I need to make bean-n-rice.

(Yes, these are the strange things that just suddenly occur to me when I go to post my photo challenge photos. Once again, I felt like I had nothing to say - certainly nothing new - but I feel that I've committed to myself to post the photos and try to keep writing, even though I often feel too discouraged.

Yet as I start to write, crazy things come to me, like comparing infertility to beans. It's not a perfect analogy, but as Ar reminds me, I started this blog to help myself process life as I know it, not to make sense or please anyone else, so beans it is. Although I suppose I could have at least photographed some beans or something... oh well!)