Wednesday, May 18, 2011

letting go

OK I am not good at letting go.
is it the mother in me, is it the me in me?
don't know, but I am not good at letting go.
I still want to have control of the food situations, and while sometimes that works, more often-- now that my child is old enough to "do it myself" -- it does not and I am caught in the hailstorm of "why didn't you leave it to me."
So I try to be hands off, and let my supremely capable child take care of it.
Maybe it's that I want to continue to protect him; maybe it's because I want to shield my child from the harsh world out there and the hard realities of the limitations of his diet.
Or maybe it's just a habit.
Or maybe it's that I am trying to prove I'm perfect and not listening to anyone else... gee I really hope it's not that because that makes me seem very limited myself.
So I struggle on, not quite winning the battle of doing it all, not quite not doing it all.

reflections from a very rainy afternoon in NY

Monday, May 9, 2011

COLLEGE

Apologies-- some of my blogs over last months have been in a glitch-- so am reprinting one here--about college choice.


College has been picked__ it's one where we were lucky enough to have eaten lunch. Lucky in that we know it and saw with our own six eyes that there is kosher and gluten-free and plain burgers and steamed veggie separate from other things and lots of people getting special meals.
YAY.
Plus website is terrific about it--so people must be too.
and anyway--it's a great place even if he has to keep a fridge with his own stuff --he'll be getting a phenomenal education with what looks like a bunch of bright engaged kids!

I think we-- and by that I mean the collective we-- have always tried to show our kids that the world is a wide open place where life is good and is not all about limits. Limits exist for everyone, and we shouldn't put them on ourselves, nor should we ignore their realities. But overall, we can choose many many options--even if one of them is always eating steak and potatoes because the company is good. As my son says "it's all good."
And, it is.

graduation up and coming

Unbelievably high school graduation is around the corner-- and who knew that every single solitary event is centered on food-- and who knew there were so many events...
Senior lunch, BBQ day, headmaster dinner, prom, pre-prom, post prom....graudation luncheon-- throw in an outside event or two and it's over the top asking about menus and making calls about safety.
And then there's the discussion of: when shall we talk to the food services folks at college, and how does one go about that-- there's the crowd who feels that single rooms make one safer and are a must; then there;s the group who feel that the in the real world there are no single rooms--so get used to it.
I just want to know that my child is safe, and can be safe and will be safe-- and then there's all that stuff about food-- just kidding, I mean I want my child safe from all harmful things, and in the big scheme of things, I think food can be pretty controllable even if it's hard to do and takes a serious lot of planning.
more late,
and Happy Mother's Day everyone out there.