Palate Cleansing

When Kinnard and I were on vacation in July of 2010, one of the first stops on our road trip was Texas de Brazil in Memphis...and yeah, it was all that I'd hoped it would be. He had been singing its praises since visiting the restaurant during a business trip to Dallas in 2008, and promised to take me to one whenever we got the chance.

Luckily for me that chance came this past year. As we were being seated, the maitre d' explained that the gauchos would continue to serve their bounty of meats as long our card was turned to the green side. If we wanted them to be merciful and hold off for a while, we could simply flip the card to red. Simple enough. He also explained that if we wanted the fullness of flavor from each sample of meat, we could cleanse our palate with the fried bananas that had been prepared.

Well, the other day, Kinnard and I were having another one of our philosophical discussions (which are now few and far-between since we've been invaded by little people) and this whole palate cleansing concept came up again. I started thinking. With the onset of the new year, and the talk of resolutions and such, wouldn't this be a good time for some palate cleansing???? I don't know about anyone else, but I could probably stand palate cleansing bootcamp in many areas of my life: spirituality, relationships, career, personal goals...just peel back the onion layers from my eyes and my heart and allow things to be seen and experienced in a brand new way.

I want to open my Bible and see and feel God in a new way. Unlearning all that I know or think I know and letting Him teach me all over again. I want to see Jesus in an I-just-met-you kind of way, feeling a newfound sense of thanksgiving for all that He continues to do for me. I want to see my husband in a new way. After two pregnancies and three kids, God knows we could stand some newness. I want to feel that reckless abandonment of falling in love all over again and dating the love of my life for the first time...(I better move on to another topic, as I'm biting my lip right now ;-)

I'm cleaning my palate for new friendships/relationships. I want to open my soul to a different type of friendship...where all parties embrace and reciprocate authenticity, dialogue, life experience, and emotional well-being. I'm so done with pointless relationships on roads to nowhere, hanging on by threads of insecurity and doubt and political correctness. Friendships shouldn't feel formal. Friendship should be a safe place to be totally you. A place where we allow each other to be ourselves...then challenge each other to be a better version of ourselves. A friend's love will let you be who you are, but it won't let you stay as you are.

And those are just a few areas in which I'm getting rid of residue left over from the past. I want to taste the fullness of each life experience...good and bad, I'm challenging myself to approach it all with a newness and a freshness that could allow me to get over some humps and hurdles and ruts...get past some hurts and start afresh. I want to ball up my old sheet of paper, toss it into the trash, and get a new sheet. Press the reset button on my heart and go at life again...catch my drift?

So here's to us and a clean palate! (go ahead and lift your apple juice) May we tread the waters of 2011 filled to the brim with hope, sans the baggage. May we inspire others with our freshness. May we unplug our respirators and start to breathe a newfound energy into the lungs of our lives and walk eagerly, but gracefully into our next riveting chapter.