Stuff in my head

Lately, I've become all to aware that sometimes I just can't follow directions. Doesn't matter what what they're for, I just have to throw a curve ball. Example: White Chicken Chili recipe--it says to chop the tomatillos and I did, the first time. Now?......hell, no. I throw them in the blender or food processor. Is the texture different? Well, yeah. Do I care? Hell, no.
If a recipe says to add a teaspoon of X, and I like the flavor of X, you can bet the farm I'm going to add more X. If it says add a little, well, on any given day that could happen, but it also might not. If I like X, well... there's going to plenty of it. I know cooking is all about chemistry, (which I did NOT "ace" in high school but I did OK,) and so far, I've managed to sneak around any really serious disasters.

And what's really weird is that in other areas of my life, I've spent 55 years a total Rules Girl. Boy, howdy, if an invitation said to be there at noon, I was there at noon or five minutes before noon. Or if an invitation said black tie, I was out scouring the city for something "black tie" to wear. What did I think they would do...ask me to leave because my outfit was close, but just not quite black tie enough? Did I think there was a black tie meter or something, that would go off if I was "under dressed"? I think back about all the time I have wasted following rules I didn't even like or understand--just blind allegiance---and laugh out loud. And here's the scary part--I thought it was important. Isn't that what all of our parents taught us? That we simply h-a-d to conform. Hell, yeah.

Remember the "no white shoes after Labor Day" thing?? Or what? You'd be arrested by the fashion police? What dufus decided that? Was there a vote on it or did someone just issue it down as " fashion law"? And why in the world, as intelligent(?) women, did our mother's teach us that nonsense?

One word? Fear. We simply had to measure up to someone else's pre-determined idea of what was OK. Wow....how many people had their creativity and potential stifled by such tight restrictions? How many kids went into careers they weren't even interested in because it was the accepted norm of the time and because their parent's would be pleased?

What if we'd all been free to follow our own paths, with unconditional parental emotional support? I wonder if we'd have as many drug addicts, murderers, serial killers? Maybe. Maybe not. I wonder.....

Lastly, to those of you who were just sure I'd be rippin' on old Sarah Palin today, stay tuned. I'm still cogitating on that. Heh, heh, heh.....