Swimming with Fury

What could have possibly made my already horrible day worse? Friday was a crappy day. I was in a horrible mood because of my injuries. Then right before day’s end I got the news that I was NOT picked for the promotion at work. The reason? Completely petty and bullshit in my opinion but I won’t go into it here.

Needless to say I was a raging ball of fury Friday night. I made it to the pool (late) and am happy to report that I had a fantastic swim. Rage tends to do that…I swam HALF A MILE in 15 MINUTES. Without stopping. And then I continued. I swam mostly freestyle because it didn’t cause me any discomfort in my lower extremities. My body felt no pain in the water PLUS I swam hard. Really hard. The end result:

100 Lengths of the pool (down and then back) in 50 minutes. That’s 50 laps. Just under 1.5 miles.

I felt fantastic after my swim. I was still angry and sad but my body felt good.

While I was at the pool, Michael did some grocery shopping and made dinner: Eggplant Parmesan.

These photos are courtesy of Michael. 😉 He sliced the eggplant and laid them on a paper towel. He sprinkled salt on them to soak up all the liquid.

It works magic too! I’ve seen him do it before. In fact, this dish is one of the FIRST meals we cooked together when we first started dating. I have fond memories of that. After 20 minutes he brushed all the salt off, scored the skin of the eggplant, and cooked it in the skillet with Grapeseed Oil. He says he didn’t cook it all the way since he was baking it too.

He didn’t bread the eggplant and honestly it didn’t need it.

He added fresh garlic to the jar of red sauce and it made it much better.

I got home from the pool when he was just starting to layer the eggplant with the sauce and shredded Italian cheese mix. When I walked in the door, distraught, and he handed me this:

And these:

All to cheer me up. He treated me like a Princess.

Which I really needed. He listened to me cry and whine, moan and then scream about my body, my injuries, my job…It helped to get it all out. He just listened to me and tried to make me feel better.  And he got me more presents!

Lotion from Costco. Much needed because as a swimmer I go through obscene amounts of lotion and moisturizer. His efforts were not unnoticed. He was my Knight in Shining Armor and it was much appreciated.

He baked the eggplant parm until the cheese was melted and bubbling. He prepared some sourdough french bread with butter and dinner was delicious. Gooey, cheesy and garlicky. I hadn’t had much of an appetite because of the bad day but the food was too good not to eat.

Michael took over drinking my beer and I switched to wine. I wanted something strong instead.

I drank two glasses of wine, had a second helping of Eggplant Parm and then we went to bed. I slept fitfully…Deep sleep mixed in with bad dreams. But I woke up feeling pretty refreshed and the fury had subsided. It didn’t stay dormant for long, but I’m working through the stages of grief.

QUESTION: How do you make Eggplant Parm? And tell me something you’re currently angry about.