Freezer life

I have a subscription to the Taste of Home cooking magazine.  (Thanks again to Wes' Aunt Kim for that!)  The Thanksgiving issue arrived last week and in it were all sorts of great recipes for things like turkey enchiladas, turkey sandwiches, turkey meatballs, turkey pie.... pretty much anything you can think of to get rid of all those turkey leftovers.  As I flipped through, page by page, I came across a handy little guide on the freezer life of random items: beef, pork, milk, veggies, cheese,... the list went on and on and nothing on that list had a freezer life of more than 12 months (remember that).

I read the chart and I laughed.  HARD.  I started laughing so hard that tears were coming out of my eyes.  The only thing I wanted to do was cut out that chart and mail it to Dr. Teresa.  Then the tears in my eyes got bigger and bigger and I bawled.  HARD.  I cried my eyes out and the two dogs just sat on the floor and stared up at me, very confused as to what was taking place.  I finally got all the tears out of my system and I sat back and stared at that stupid chart and I started to smile.  Then my smile turned into a chuckle, the chuckle turned into a giggle, the giggle turned into a laugh, and I got tears in my eyes again, but I didn't cry nearly as much the second time.

Now let me explain.

Dr. Teresa was one of the coolest women ever.  EVER.  She died last year and now it seems like every little thing reminds me of her all the time.  After she passed away her brother and sister and their families came into town to clean up her house and give away many of her belongings.  One of those belongings was a large chest freezer- FULL.  Dr. Teresa's brother said that if I wanted that freezer I could have it, but I had to take it - FULL.  So my family helped me scoot that freezer that weighed a ton (literally, it felt like) onto a trailer and it came to our newly wedded household. 

At first I was very excited about inheriting a full freezer - I wouldn't have to shop for months!  But I quickly found out that everything has a freezer life. 
Cornish game hens, circa 2001: Not so good
Buy one, get one free brisket, circa 2002: Buy one, get one tough piece of meat
50% off turkey, post-Thanksgiving, circa 2007: 50% off taste, if that's even possible with turkey
Lamb chops, circa 2005: Well, even if they weren't terribly old, we probably wouldn't have eaten them.  They're lamb chops.  Seriously. 

The take home lesson that Dr. Teresa taught me by bequeathing me with a freezer was 1) stock up on food that you can eat in a reasonable amount of time when it goes on sale, and 2) everything has a freezer life. 

I've cut out that handy freezer guide and stuck in on our fridge at home.  Sure, it may come in handy someday to know how many months goat's milk will last in the freezer, but really I keep it around so that I get another daily reminder of one of the coolest ladies I've ever had the privilege to know.  And so now, every day when I walk by the fridge and see it, my smile turns to a chuckle, the chuckle to a giggle...