Us Veggies

Before Brian and I got married there was a big discussion involving both families,

"Are you sure you want to marry her?. . .she's a vegetarian."


I'm not even kidding. This conversation happened. Those words were uttered not by just one family member, but discussed as a group. They were really concerned.


Well, obviously Brian was willing to take his chances because here we are, five years later.


Lately I've been pondering where we are now and how a carnivore can cohabitate with a sweet little vegetarian, like me. How do we do it? How do our kids fare in this contrasting environment?

Number one, I am a totally laid back vegetarian. As in, as long as I don't have to eat it, it's not a big deal?

First, a little background on me. My earliest memory of not liking meat was when I was describing my distaste for ham (it has little white squiggles) to my oldest childhood friend Liz on the elementary school playground. Maybe third grade. I can't ever remember a time where I was okay with ground hamburger. I think that even before "my declaration" I was always pretty picky about meat. But the big commitment was put in high speed during the early nineties when my mom was on a Sante Fe chicken-burger kick, homemade of course. I guess I just found one too many veins in my chicken-burger and I'd had enough. At the tender age of ten I decided that I no longer ate meat. I was a vegetarian.


Oh, they all thought it was just a phase. They thought I was just being a kid and would forget or give up in a few days or weeks. Turns out it's been a seventeen year phase. And I don't know what they did with me. What did I eat back then? My mom didn't play into my "phase" very much because I never got special treatment. I never got special vegetarian meals and if I wanted to eat, I'd have to eat around the meat in whatever we were having. So, as this tangent is getting so very long, I'll just say that probably thanks to my mom, I'm a very laid back vegetarian. I don't mind if my food is cooked with or has touched meat, and although I make a mess on my plate sometimes, I am an expert meat picker. It works for me.


I also don't have any moral reasons for being a vegetarian. I love animals, sure, but that's not my platform. It's also not for health reasons, because I just had Lucky Charms for dinner. The bottom line is that I just think it's gross. It's yucky to eat an animal that was walking and breathing and thinking. I have even tried to stop. I had a few weeks in late 2004 where I decided I was going to eat chicken. I had a few nuggets at Wendy's and wee bits of chicken here and there. But I had to give myself pep talks with each chew and swallow. It was really hard for me. And also lets just say my bowels didn't know what was going on. So I stopped and told everyone to love me as I am.


That was actually a whole lot of background on me. Oops Back to my original point- me and Brian eating happily together.

Brian. He is the real reason that we've blended so well. I have never asked Brian to stop eating meat, or tried to keep him from it. I've even gotten more comfortable preparing it (which by the way just reaffirms my decision every time). Brian loves meat. But he loves me too. And over the years I think he's realized that it's just not that big of a deal. He never buys red meat. Never- unless I decide to make something in the crockpot, which has been twice. We have frozen chicken breasts, lunch meat, tuna and frozen salmon. That's it. We eat a lot of vegetarian meals, not because I force them, but because we both like them and that's just what we eat. And if he's feeling like he needs a little more substance he'll throw a chicken breast on the George and he's good to go. Or if our meal is centered around meat, then I am fine just eating the sides. It works.

He now admits that he could easily be a vegetarian because he basically eats like one. And Brian is a pretty healthy eater (those of you who know him from high school are laughing). He would be the type of vegetarian that would eat a lot of legumes and tofu- so not me. But I'm just grateful. I don't think many men could stand not having their meat. So I just like him. And I'd never have guessed it would be this easy. But I feel pretty lucky that it is.


As for our kids; I get excited when they eat meat. I'm happy for them. I'm happy when Elle gobbles down a slice of turkey, or when McKay wants to make tuna for lunch. I hope they'll have more "mental toughness," as Brian says, when it comes to animal consumption than I do. I hope it doesn't get to them. Because it can be really annoying to be a vegetarian. Like really.


But it's my destiny. My calling in life. And try as I might I can't get out of it.