photo by Robert NicholsÂ
November 1, 2011
Dear Teacher,
A little later this morning, I’ll be dropping off a packed lunch for my child. Here’s why. Right now my refrigerator contains:
2 dozen eggs
1 package graying bologna (no nitrates)
1 crusty mustard bottle
10 Parmesean rinds
1 roll of pie pastry
13 asparagus spears
1 unopened log of chevre
I didn’t have time to go to the grocery last night. Well, in truth I had time, but no energy. Trick-or-Treating with my kids burned through the last bit of “atta-girl” I had left. Sure, you may see pictures of me on the internet wearing hot pants and a sexy wig. But just twenty-four hours before, I was sporting a 101-degree fever and cradling a mixing bowl to my chest. The night before that, I was chaperoning my daughter’s first slumber party. It may sound reckless, but attending the neighborhood Halloween parade with my family and friends last night was doctor’s orders. Dr. Feelgood, I mean. And I wouldn’t trade it for a responsible, late-night trip to the grocery. Not to the store near my house that smells like cigarette butts, nor the one on the bypass that smells like garbanzo sprouts. Rest assured I’m on my way to those places this morning and will deliver a balanced, healthy, sack lunch before noon. May the nutrients provide a gastric flotilla for the Milk Duds and Dots my child will consume by the fistful upon his arrival home.
Signed,
The Coconut Girl
Post Halloween bag o’ treats: My younguns are living proof that life does go on despite the fact that they consumed (with my approval or on the sly, outside my surveillance) fists full of chemical feasts in the form of Halloween treats. Mother Nature does have an over arcing plan to save our darlings from some indulgences around birthday time, Christmas time and HALLOWEEN. We just can’t deprive the kids of some pretty harmless “sinning” now and then – it’s all in the spirit of fun – and we deserve that as often as we can find it. Carpe diem.