The Macaroni Necklace

I have had this post written in my mind for months, years maybe.  It seemed like now that the dog days of summer are finally upon us and the season of fun is in full swing, it was as good a' time as any to talk about the macaroni necklace.  The macaroni necklace you see, represents much more to me than some colorful pasta tied together with string.  It's a symbol of all things simple, youthful, carefree, creative, authentic and fun - it's a state of mind.  To help you better understand the macaroni necklace allow me to use it in a sentence:

"This traffic is a nightmare - when I get home I'm gonna put on my comfies, cook a nice meal, grab a book and put on the macaroni necklace for the rest of the night."

A more extreme example would be as follows:

"This traffic is a nightmare - today I'm going to quit my job and move to a clothing-optional, self-sustaining compound in Oregon and home school the kids."

Are you feeling the macaroni necklace?

I'm 99.99999% sure I stole this term from my girlfriend (who incidentially, hates this blog and will undoubetedly be miffed that I tainted the sacred necklace by mentioning it here).  She and I have been using this term to describe "the good life" since we were too young to know we were already living the good life.  Back in those days we thought the macaroni necklace was a lifestyle. It meant moving to a tropical locale and braiding hair on the beach by day and mixing rum drinks by night.  It represented the opposite of responsibilities, pressure, stress, and work - it represented an escape.  

My mother has some great one-liners, but one of my favorites is that "Work is work.  If it was supposed to be fun they would have called it 'fun' instead."  Ahhhh, the Baby Boomers...you can't argue with that kind of logic.  While it's true that most of us don't have the luxury of living a life of...well, luxury - that's actually the beauty of it.  Life itself is the luxury.

I still love the macaroni necklace and use the term regularly, but these days I don't see it as being quite so extreme.  It's become less about escaping to paradise and more about the idea of making the place you already are into a paradise.  The necklace means enjoying every moment of every day as much as possible, regardless of what that particular day happens to hold.  People have written books and given seminars about the macaroni necklace, except they call it living an "authentic life" or "living awake".  One of my favorite Eckhart Tolle quotes on this topic is "life isn't as serious as the mind makes it out to be."
 
I used to think that there were two choices - the macaroni necklace lifestyle or "real" life.  Now I say the macaroni necklace doesn't need to take you to lands unknown...you can wear it with anything, anytime, anywhere in the life you live right now.  You can throw on your necklace any given Monday night when you elect to kick back with your favorite person and a cold beverage on the deck.

Summer is here.  I encourage you to head to the kitchen, grab a box of dry penne and a little gardening twine.  Whip yourself up some macaroni bling and rock it proudly while you participate in your favorite form of fun this season.  Do the things that make you feel young and free and lit up on the inside - the things that are in harmony with what's important to you. 

For our part my family and I are heading up to Vermont for our annual summer getaway in a month or two.  It's always refreshing to break out of the routine and the expected - there's something about a change of scenery and the adventure of the unknown with people you love that naturally makes you feel a little lighter.  This year I think it might be fun to bring some dry pasta and food coloring along for the trip.  Letting the kids construct their first macaroni necklaces sounds like a great way to buy my husband and I fifteen minutes of peace and quiet.  They will also serve as souvenirs of childhood for Mom to keep with her long after the splish-splashy, lemonade-soaked days of summer have gone.