by Vicki Hopkins

Created on: December 02, 2007

The inspiration for this article is from my friend and co-worker, Loretta, who suggested that I write about what to do with Thanksgiving leftovers. Hum, since I rarely cook, I don't usually deal with leftovers, but after pondering the leftover thought, I figure there has to be a lot of correlations we can draw from a Thanksgiving feast to Thanksgiving leftovers in our own lives, especially in the realm of relationships.

Relationships at their peak can certainly be likened to a feast. They taste great, look great, and satisfy. When relationships break, however, we're certainly left with a lot of leftovers in our lives such as memories both good and bad. What we do with those leftovers is pivotal as we move forward. We can either take those leftovers and recreate something just as wonderful as the first feast, or we can leave them in the cold refrigerators of our hearts to rot and grow mold. The choice is up to us.

My fondest remake of Thanksgiving turkey leftovers is from my almost sister-in-law, Bev. (Forget the almost sister-in-law story. I'll save that for another day.) Anyway, traditionally speaking, we'd all go over to Bev's house after Thanksgiving to have turkey enchiladas. She had a way of transforming leftover turkey into a great dinner the day after. It tasted just as good as the feast the day before.

I suppose if she had left those leftovers in her refrigerator and done nothing with them, we'd have another outcome. You know the kind. A week later you lift the lid on the Tupperware and find something green, moldy, and fuzzy beneath it. The leftovers are good for nothing except the garbage disposal. Relationship leftovers not dealt with are not much different. If we don't take those leftovers and make something positive out of them, they'll do the same in our hearts - rot.

So whatever leftovers you're dealing with in your life, take them and remake them into something positive. Don't stash them away to grow poisonous in your system. You know the saying, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Well in this case, when life gives you turkeys, make enchiladas.

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