it was the first time in years – literally years – since we had ordered chinese food. way back before the pandemic we stopped ordering as soy sauce used in cooking my favorite fried rice contains gluten. we’ve purchased tamari for use at home – sans gluten – but you can’t expect a chinese restaurant to use this. but then, the up-north gang started to talk about panda – one of the restaurants in town – and i was havin’ a hankerin’ for their amazing fried rice and eggrolls. (i don’t require complicated foods to be extraordinarily happy!)

and so, we decided to forego the gluten-worry and we ordered. we were in fried-rice-heaven.  truth be told, we have purchased frozen fried rice from trader joe’s, added some more veggies and wok-ed it all up with tamari, which was pretty good. but…that container of fried rice and that little wax paper bag with our eggrolls after placing our order on the phone and jaunting over to pick it up – it inspired joy!!!

and then, there’s the fortune cookie. it’s funny these days – the back of the fortune cookie has an ad from jockey (the international headquarters is in this town), so you can’t get away from retail marketing even in your fortune cookie. nevertheless, this time we wished to pay attention to the cookie and its words of ancient wisdom. 

“your to-do list for tomorrow: do absolutely nothing.”

and so we did. we spent the next day facetiming with our daughter while she opened her christmas presents. we went antiquing and immersed in treasures and ideas. we hung out with dogdog and had happy hour and made homemade soup. we were fortunate and our day was filled with great fortune. we did nothing that even resembled tedium or hard work. i mean, it’s a fortune cookie! you have to pay attention!

it’s now under a magnet on our refrigerator. but the thing is – we have already cashed in on the magic. we used up the fortune. 

i wondered if that was it? was it spent? over? no longer our fortune?

and so, i googled it.

and found this:

“a fortune from a cookie typically lasts as long as you assign meaning to it or find it relevant. the lifespan of a fortune cookie’s message is subjective and varies from person to person.” (the ever-reliable knowledge factoid site – quora.com)

i’m thinking we will leave it up there on the fridge for a spell (or whatever the lifespan of this fortune cookie fortune might be). that way, we can glance over and “assign it meaning” any day we want!

*****

read DAVID’S thoughts this NOT-SO-FLAWED WEDNESDAY

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