Kosher 6 months and counting

My rabbi likes to say "Hashem talks to people, you just have to know how to listen."

I think now I know what he means. Sometimes there are too many "coincidences" for things in life to be so random. For example, in 2006 after reading a story in the OU weekly newsletter about how tzitzits saved a man after the Holocaust (which came from, and led to my daily reading of Treppenwitz) I decided to start wearing tzitzits myself. But to cement this even more, after I got some tzitzits and started wearing them, the very next Shabbos was Parchah Shlach, which contains Numbers 15:38-39

38: Speak to the children of Israel and you shall say to them that they shall make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations, and they shall affix a thread of sky blue [wool] on the fringe of each corner. 39: This shall be fringes for you, and when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord to perform them, and you shall not wander after your hearts and after your eyes after which you are going astray.

Yikes, talk about timing. This happened again several months later when I was deciding if it was time to go completely kosher (I was already kosher at home, but was still on the fence about being kosher outside the home). I had pretty much decided that I would go completely kosher. But driving by Chili's, I thought to myself "I'm really going to miss the fajitas." (ordered without cheese or sour cream, but still...) The next day I had a meeting that was near a kosher restaurant, so I decided to have dinner there. When I read the specials of the day, you could have knocked me over with a feather. The item at the very top of the menu board was Chicken Fajitas! Okay, message received loud and clear! I started keeping completely kosher a few weeks later at Rosh Hashanah. Checking my calendar, that was September 22nd. So today (secularly anyway) is my 6 month anniversary. And next week I have another anniversary coming up as well, but I'll write about that soon.

My wife asked me a few times if there are things that I missed from my days of not keeping kosher. I'll be honest. Yes, there are several food items that I do miss. But the longer that I've gone without them, the less of a hold, or desire they seem to have over me. I think the thing I miss the most though, is the ability to just run out and grab a meal anywhere. There are only a few kosher restaurants in my area, and they are all at least a half hour drive away (over the state line). Still, this has been better for my diet. Bringing in lunch from home daily has been much healthier than a burger and fries at McDs several times a week!