Before I became a mom, I’d buy a bottle of ketchup at the start of summer, when everyone was going crazy for barbecues, hamburgers, and hot dogs. I’d use the sauce for special meatballs or my delicious meatloaf recipe. That was it.
Then the kids came along and started asking for ketchup. Ketchup on everything. Shepherd’s pie and meatloaf—I’m all for it. But on spaghetti? My daughter asks for it on watermelon, cookies, and all her vegetables.
I watch their little eyes light up when I open the fridge door and pull out that famous red bottle! Shouts of joy. The party’s in full swing at the table, and the whole family can eat without any squabbling. It’s crazy how many foods they’ll eat thanks to ketchup. To my little ones, everything tastes good, and Mom’s meals are delicious. Stop searching Ricardo’s cookbooks for a winning recipe—all you need is a little sweet red stuff on the plate.
All of this brings me back to adult life, where we tend to overcomplicate things most of the time. The commute to work is too long, household chores are dull and repetitive, and routine bores us. What if we added a little ketchup to our lives, too, to make the things we don’t like a little better?
Sometimes, a Monday morning seems really dreary at first glance. But when a song you love comes on loud in the car on the way to work—boom—your morning transforms.
After a long, hard day, spending the evening with the kids is daunting. Why not order a pizza and skip bath time?
Do you hate doing laundry—and hate folding and putting away all those little clothes even more? This week, leave it all in the laundry basket and just reach in and grab what you need. Anyway, no one’s going to check inside the closets to see if you did your job right.
At the end of the day, when it comes to life’s little annoyances—the not-so-fun moments, the ones you don’t necessarily enjoy—well, just add some ketchup!