My busy inner life...

I met my friend, Andy, for brunch at Masa in Woburn this weekend. It was remarkably yummy. I am a chef and I take the word "yummy" seriously. The portions were perfect, the flavor profiles were clean and delightful and the outdoor patio was wonderful in the spring morning breeze. (click HERE for their lovely brunch menu)

But that is not what I wanted to write about here. I wanted to impart to you a little bit about what goes on inside Julia on a daily basis. I live a very busy inner life. And my brunch at Masa is a perfect example of that.

What you might have seen: Julia reaching for the butter. Julia sipping her coffee, smiling. Julia nibbling some bread.

What I experienced/noticed:

The two people next to us had a small child. The mom was wearing a grey fitted sweater and black pants. The dad was wearing a heather green top, long sleeves and jeans. The daughter had on a dress and green tights, little white shoes. She was not so happy about this whole dining al fresco thing. Mom gave her stickers to play with. They discussed landscaping.

The two people on the other side were expecting a baby. She wore a blue and white top with a pattern and blue stretch pants. She had on large sunglasses and a gold necklace. He was wearing a red shirt and jeans. She spoke a lot about x genes and y genes and how she did not want to sit around and watch sports with a son, so she hoped it was a girl.

There were purple, white and yellow pansies in baskets along the rail of the patio.

Petco had a promotion going on....including sales staff attached to HYOOGE balloons. Six of them. Red, Yellow. Purple. They had words on them like "chirp" and "woof".

There were four kinds of bread/muffins in the basket. Three condiments, apricot preserves, strawberry jam and honey butter.

This was all before the meal came.

I take in more than the average person. I see things people don't. I hear things people don't. I feel things people don't. I taste things people don't. It is wonderful and exhausting. Most of the time it is a three ring circus inside me, while on the outside, it appears that I am totally concentrating on the words coming out of your mouth. It is not ADD, it is more like Super Sensation Input. This is why I sometimes get overwhelmed easily, and need to turn off the radio while driving, why I require quiet time and why I really enjoy alone time or private time with friends, rather than large crowds, or parties. This is why, if I am in a particularly emotional place, my bandwidth for what you would consider "normal" is so narrow. Be patient with me. I have no choice in the matter. It is just the way I am wired.