EVERY DOOR OUT IS A DOOR IN

 

The following is my little make-believe story, which is a metaphor for the virtue of keeping a clean house and mind and heart and soul:

 

EVERY DOOR OUT IS A DOOR IN

 

Greta arrived home one day to the awful discovery that her house had been vandalized. The thieves, in fact, kicked the back door in—clear of its lock and hinges. They stole some of Greta’s favorite things, and while she regretted the loss of her possessions and her sense of personal safety, the most potent result was a feeling of having been violated—an eerie feeling of someone having rifled through her personal life and poked around in her soul without permission.

Friends, relatives, celebrities, you name it, are cut down by the Grim Reaper at an alarming rate, and each of them is nearly always of an age that Greta is tiptoeing around so as not to excite the interest of that courier of death. Greta figures one way to escape the Reaper’s notice, or at least the swing of his lethal scythe, is to shrink down in size as much as possible. Nature is lending a hand. Greta’s last checkup revealed that she is a full 2-1/2 inches shorter in height than before. The culprit is diminishing discs of her spine. And while she’s rapidly qualifying for a cameo on the little people’s show, her house is still way too easy for the Reaper to pull up on his GPS. It’s time to downsize and tidy-up, big time.

While Greta’s vertebral discs are doing their part in her vanishing act, her head is another matter. It craves minimalism as well, and not just to trip-up death or make way for a spiritual life, but as a defense against a different type of doomsday scenario. The thought of people rummaging through the leftovers of her and her life after she’s gone gives Greta the same kind of creeps she felt after her house was burgled. “Who cares? You’ll be dead!” Greta hears voiced from the peanut gallery. Dead or alive, no matter, Greta does care. She has done all her end of life paperwork for the obvious reasons, and she also wants to protect her image. She wants her digs and her record to be clear and clean. She wants to leave nothing incriminating behind. She wants to take her dirt to the grave with her.

            Greta has had her heart broken while undertaking the responsibility of sorting through the “stuff” left behind by departed loved-ones. Among the “stuff” were papers and other articles that should never have seen the light of day. Greta doesn’t want to put her kids through that if she can avoid it. Maya Angelou said that we need much less than we think we need. Holding on to needless “stuff” feels to Greta like she would be leaving grist to grind in any busybody’s mill, and if that were to come about, there would be nobody to blame but herself. Greta is fortunate in that her special people love and support her despite her known mishaps and misdeeds. As for her secret transgressions—well, they are nobody’s business but Greta’s and her forgiving God’s—and Greta’s God needs no documentation of them whatsoever.

Time passed and the new and better back door to the house installed, Greta invited people in to help her celebrate the restoration of her feelings of security. Greta cooked up a big pot of soup for the occasion. As she and her guests ate, Greta thought to herself, “Good soup! Good friends! It’s almost heaven again.” But in the back of her mind is imbedded the neon reality that every door out is a door in.© –Linda Lee Greene

 

 

BEEFY CELERY, CARROT, AND ONION SOUP

 

1 lb lean ground beef browned on stove top. When fully cooked, place in colander over a disposable container and drain meat of the fat/grease

½ bunch celery, washed thoroughly, trimmed of stringy tops with potato peeler, and then cut into bite-size pieces

1-1/2 cups shredded carrots or whole carrots cut into bite-sized pieces or whole baby carrots

1 large onion cut into bite-sized pieces

2 tbsp minced garlic

1 envelope dry onion soup/dip mix

Several generous shakes (to preferred taste) each of dried thyme, dried parsley flakes, dried chopped chives, dried coriander, dried turmeric, or fresh of the recommended herbs if on hand

4 generous shakes Emeril Lagasse’s Original Essence

4 generous shakes Calde de Tomate (tomato bouillon)

Add pink Himalayan salt and black pepper to preferred taste

Place all ingredients in Crock Pot or equivalent slow-cooker, add 32 oz low-sodium vegetable broth or stock. Turn heat setting to high. Cook for at least 4 hours or until vegetables are tender, and then scarf it down…

 

***          

Linda Lee Greene’s award-winning novel

 

CRADLE OF THE SERPENT

 

Cradled in the security of her twenty-year marriage, archaeologist Lily Light bids Jacob, her professional partner and husband, farewell as he quits their work together and embarks on a long-term study of ancient cultures in the Southwest United States. Over time, Lily grows alarmed by changes she sees in Jacob during his weekend returns to their Ohio home. What is he hiding? Is there someone else?

Colossal troubles in this big marriage play out against the vast landscapes of Ohio’s Great Serpent Mound, Arizona’s Navajo Nation, and Arizona’s northern city of Flagstaff…an “enthralling” blend of contemporary romance, suspense, historical fiction, and riveting sequences of time-traveling.

 

“5 Stars…A woman’s search for the truth behind her husband’s infidelity unearths dark secrets and monstrous circumstances, chilling exposures that in the end illuminate her path to a new and better life…told from varying viewpoints in varying states of existence and so becomes quite unique and utterly fascinating."

 

Purchase Link: goo.gl/i3UkAV

 

 

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