Food Allergy Works

My child is about to return home from college and some friends and I were chatting over this long holiday weekend as the question came up: while he w  as away, did we eat all the foods he can't? It's a good question -- so why do I say it in hushed tones.  Did we or didn't we and if we did --was it wrong?   For years we have all adhered to strict avoidance, kept foods out of our homes, not cooked certain items. So when the barn doors are opened-- do we run?  I think there's a certain amount of guilt accompanying eating foods your kids can't. Foods that you may have yearned for. Foods that were family traditions. Foods that easy to find in a train station or easy to pick up after work.    We've all had that moment: the wouldn't- it -be -so -easy. But we all stop and regroup. And hope our food allergic kid didn't see the wistfulness in our eyes. Because they don't get the choice.  They have to do the right thing every minute of every day, so it feels wrong for us adults to wish for something different for ourselves.     So did we eat foods my kid can't eat-- yes. We went out to dinner for Thai. I made spaghetti at home.  Did we feel guilty-- not exactly. But certainly we felt odd, out of practice in some way, and we found what we had always believed in, mantra like: it's not the food that makes the meal it's the people around the table.