Someone I follow tweeted that they forgot to eat today. I responded, “You know, I am quite sure that I have never forgotten to eat.”
I have at times skipped a meal because something came up and there wasn’t time to eat, but I guarantee I was cranky about it. I can remember coming home exhausted and falling into bed without dinner.
And of course I have been too sick to eat a few times in my life. It’s a guidepost: if I don’t want to eat, I am really sick.
But I have never forgotten about a meal.
My father used to say I was always hungry. He said the day they brought me home from the hospital, I cried and carried on while he tried desperately to figure out how to get a bottle ready.
And the family made fun of me for years after the vacation when I asked, while we were eating dinner, what we were going to do for breakfast the next day.
It wasn’t that I wasn’t getting enough dinner. I just wanted to make sure there were plans for breakfast the next day. I mean, my mother was in charge and I’d already figured out that she didn’t really care that much about food.
I’ve been teased enough about the importance I place on regular meals to feel a little defensive. But damn it, eating is important. Continue reading “Eating and Adulting”…