Food for Thought

Every year my family and I write what we like to call "Memory Letters." We pick a new theme each year and write a memory about it, for example we've done: cousins, best vacation, favorite Christmas, most embarrassing moment, etc. This year we picked:

Food: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I finally wrote mine and thought I'd share it with you, mostly because I already wrote stuff today and I didn't want to come up with MORE stuff out of my brain for a blog post. Sorry, but I'm fairly lazy and I'm tired. So here it is:

Food and I have always had a rough relationship. From the very beginning, there's been problems. From the projectile vomiting that had my mom changing two or three outfits each Sunday, to long hours sitting at our kitchen table next to a plate full of food I refused to eat, we just haven't always gotten along.

On a pleasant note we'll start with the good then. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of "food" and "good" together, is when I was pregnant with Bethany. It was before we even found out we were expecting and were at Dave's parents for dinner. Steak dinner. I had never before nor have I since ever had a steak taste SO DELICIOUS. I remember finishing my own, then moving on to the nieces and nephews plates next to me that didn't finish, then sucking the fat on the plate. It was just so good! I also could tell you about every candy, cookie, sweet thing I've ever loved but I suppose that goes without saying. Also I've always loved cheesecake. My mom used to make me one for my birthday every year…why don't you do that anymore Mom?!

The bad huh? I'm sorry Mom, but I have to say the worst thing I've ever had is Sweet and Sour Meatballs. When I was younger, I made it very clear to my mom (and most my siblings did too) that I did NOT like sweet and sour meatballs--at ALL. But I think my dad did, or maybe just my mom, because she kept making them and I kept having to gag my way through them. I remember one particular day we had them for dinner and I refused to eat them. I sat and groaned and whined for what seemed a very long time, until my mom informed me that she was going to the church for something (can't remember what now?) and if I didn't eat my meatballs I couldn't go with her. I hum-hawed until the last second. No really, the LAST second possible. As she pulled out of the driveway there I was running after her, meatballs shoved in my mouth, gagging and crying and begging her to take me too. Very dramatic, as is my style.

You really want to hear the ugly? Well, as ugly entails I've had some ugly experiences with food as well. Mostly, many episodes of eating something and the ugliness of seeing it come back up again. After barfing up many things you become a kind of expert on whats easier to throw up and whats worse. Ice cream, not so bad. Wendy's fries, surprisingly not that different as when they go down. Mexican, VERY bad. When I was pregnant with Bethany, David and I and my parents went to the temple, I had a horrible headache that was making me feel pretty nauseous. While we were in the temple, the headache was gone, but when we came out it slowly started up again. We decided to go out to eat at a little Mexican restaurant. The headache was so bad during dinner I could hardly eat anything, just a little bit of the rice and some refried beans. By the time we got out to the car, I was not doing well. I sat in our brand new car of one week and started vomiting into my skirt, it was a sort of bowl to catch every thing. I don't know how I threw up so much since I'd hardly eaten anything, but boy did that burn and somehow it tasted like soap. It was probably the worst thing I've ever thrown up, and thats saying something.

Also, I can't eat fruit. It makes my throat swell shut. So I think food hates me too. Hopefully in the future we can mend our ways and learn how to play nice. I'm trying to do my part, but man that food is stubborn! We'll see if we can ever reconcile our differences but in the mean time I'm going to eat this chocolate over here…
Love, Melinda

Whats the good, bad and ugly you've had with food?