I had been thinking for the past few days about what I wanted to write about today and felt like I was all over the place. It was not until later today when I asked my wife what she wanted for dinner tonight that things began to come together. What was she craving – waffles. While every once in a while I have a craving for a waffle, usually it is her. She loves waffles. One of the wisest investments we made was in 
the waffle iron we bought. It is one of those waffle makers that takes all the guesswork out of making waffles. The only challenge was the first batch getting them to the proper level of crispness for my boo. That accomplished, which for her was between a 4 and a 5, the rest was a cakewalk. You plug it in and it beeps when it is properly heated. Put in the batter and close the lid and it beeps when your waffle is done. Perfectly prepared waffles every time. Life, however, is not always easy, nor does it always go as smoothly or seem to come out as perfectly as do the waffles. Thus, the title of my blog, life is like a waffle, not life is like a waffle iron.
Watching my wife drool and moan as she dreamingly devoured two buttermilk waffles smothered in melted butter and syrup, she asked me if I was going to have one. No. don’t get me wrong, waffles can be awesome. And every once in a while, I can have a waffle the way she likes them, but most times, if I am going to have a waffle, I have to do something to it. Like one day, I added blueberries and ricotta cheese to my waffle batter. Oh my, those were so good. Especially when I would come to this little pocket of ricotta cheese and then a blueberry. It was almost like eating a cross between a blintz and a waffle.
But my favorite way to eat a waffle is with some shredded cheddar cheese and some salsa mixed into the batter. So it is kind of like this quesadilla waffle. Sometimes I will hold the salsa, just add some taco meat, cheese, diced jalapenos, onions, and tomatoes to the batter, and then put salsa on top, kind of like the syrup. There really is no right way to eat a waffle.
Anyway, that being said as I watched my wife eat her waffle tonight, I realized that life is like a waffle.
Your life is about who you are and a statement of your authentic self. Some of us are softer on the outside then others. My wife loves crunch on everything she eats from pizza to bagels to waffles. There has to be that initial crunch which gives way to a completely different texture. Others like their waffles softer and fluffier throughout. Some of us are more traditional (just give me your basic waffle with butter and syrup) and some of us are on the creative side (who said you can’t have waffle nachos).
Regardless of how you like your waffles to taste and feel, there are some basics across all waffles. They have all these nooks and crannies. When I mentioned this idea to a friend of mine, she laughed and said yeah waffles are like the people, there are the ones who rise to the top and there are those who are, well I will not use that word here. I think there is a need for the ridges and the recesses in a waffle. If waffles were not waffled, then they would be pancakes. However, that waffled texture is like life. There are ups and downs. And each is important. Because regardless of what you put on top of your waffle (butter, salsa or something else), it accumulates in those little pockets. That is where a good deal of life happens in those little pockets.
It is in our approach to these little pockets of life that are most telling about us as human beings. Do we look at those times as burdens, as times of scarcity because there is less actual waffle in those little squares then in the ridges or do we look at them as blessings and opportunities to learn valuable lessons and inhale the syrup or salsa of life that is gathered there. And would we even be able to appreciate the ridge area of the waffle if it were not for those little pockets. Sometimes we need those elevated places so we can look back and be grateful for how far we have come.
And the think I noticed about our waffle maker is that the waffles can easily be separated into four smaller sections. Again, kind of like life, we can look at our life as a whole, the entire waffle, or we can explore the various phases of our development. Waffles, like people, come in a diversity of flavors, shapes, sizes, and textures. You can make them from scratch or pop them in a toaster. And how we like our waffles can change over time. For the longest, my wife was a devotee of Eggo’s waffles, but now she her love for waffles is limited to Belgian waffles and they must be made using the recipe on the side of the Bisquick box. No deviations I learned recently because otherwise they may not taste the same. Isn’t’ that too just like life? Some people like consistency and others like a little adventure every now and then.