The $1,000 Hamburger (AKA Attitude Is Everything)

Recently, I had a $1,000 hamburger! It was delicious and I really enjoyed it!

Grilling burgers

Maybe I better explain this a bit. What do I mean, a $1,000 hamburger?
The previous night, I grilled hamburgers on my patio grill. These hamburgers were really good ones, big fat ones! The hamburgers we didn't eat were stored in the refrigerator.

The next evening my wife and I were both dead tired after having worked in the yard under the hot sun for most of the day. We decided to have one of our "fend for yourself” dinners. That's where each person forages in the fridge and pantry and makes up their own dinner.

Yeah, so what happened?

Well, I retrieved a big fat, chilled patty from the fridge. Then I placed it on a thick ceramic plate which I put it into the microwave and zapped it.  

A cold burger

As I was watching the news on TV while the hamburger was heating.  I heard a “ding” from the kitchen and paused my TV to snag my prize. But the patty was still quite cold to the touch. OK I said, I’ll just do it again for a little longer. I had to do this 3 times!

The last time I thought I’d show it who was the boss! I really cranked up the time and went back to watching the news.This is where things started to go wrong.

A hot plate!

I went back to my kitchen, and by this time I was starving. I opened the microwave door and grabbed the plate with my bare hands. As I lifted it out of the above-the-stove microwave I suddenly felt a heat from the plate in my bare hands. It felt like molten lava from a volcano! I let out some kind of unmanly shriek and dropped it like a hot horse shoe!  

A bit of trouble...

The heavy plate fell out of my hands and crashed onto the top of our glass topped stove and shattered the entire glass top of our snazzy stove! So now my name is “mud” and my “coolness rating” took a drastic drop in the eyes of my lovely wife!

I mean really, what can you say after doing something this dumb? How do you redeem yourself in the eyes of your better half? I’ll tell you what I did.  

I told my wife I would buy her a new stove and she could pick out any make and model she desired. At this point, I’m still in the dog house, but her eyes are not looking daggers at me quite so much.

Back to AMD

What does this story have to do with AMD and eye disease? To me, it’s a story of forgiveness and of making lemonade out of lemons. My wife and I can look back on this and laugh and shake our heads. An added bonus is we have a beautiful new stove!

No matter what happens to us on our eye health journey, we will all get to the other side. Yes, even with vision impairment, we will have happiness and laughter in our future. There will be bumps in the road for sure, but we will amble along and make the best of the cards we are dealt.

Mulling over vision loss

Some cool (and relevant) quotes:

• "In seeking happiness for others, you will find it in yourself."- Unknown
• "If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way."- Napoleon Hill
• "Success is not owned, it is rented. And the rent is due every day."- Unknown
• "You can't let fear take the joy out of life."- Unknown
• "NBD= No big Deal (in young people speak) - Me
• "Surprises remind us we’re not in control."- Unknown

So there you have it. We've been dealt a less than stellar hand. So bluff your way through it! Don’t fold your cards and stew. Life is amazing, and it is what me make it.

I know, I know! I should have been eating salmon and greens and maybe this wouldn’t have happened. But sometimes I just have to have a good burger.

Wishing you well on our shared journey.