Eating disorders and other maladies

I came from the old school where families ate meals together at home. As a child, I could expect to come home from school and find mom in the kitchen prepping for dinner so we could sit down the minute dad hit the back door at 5:30. We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and wilted lettuce salad; or maybe pork chops, baked beans, mac and cheese and cole slaw, or the home cookin' standards of ham and beans and roast beef with carrots. Only time pizza was served was every other Tuesday night when dad went to Lodge and mom and I would whip up a box of Chef Boy R Dee. We'd devour every morsel, then get out the Stanley product air freshener and spray like mad trying to mask our trail. Dad hated the smell of pizza. I hated the smell of that air freshener.

When raising my kids, we too, had dinner together (at least until they hit the HS years when you couldn't find a kid, let alone feed him on any kind of meaningful schedule). The meat, potatoes, 2 vegetables and a salad eventually gave way to pizza or fish sticks (chicken nuggets came with the grand kids). Many a night a Crock Pot meal would be in the making and I'd watch two of the three kids turn up their noses and fabricate an invitation to a friend's house.

In the next chapter of my life, I reverted to dinner-on-the-table the old fashioned way, just like mom; because just like mom, my man would be home promptly at 5:30 ready to have a sit-down-together meal. Didn't fry the chicken, but had lots of baked, broiled or grilled. We ate all variety of veggies and fancy salads with mixed greens, cranberries and walnuts. Ham and beans In The Crockpot was a favorite. That skinny man should have weighed a bazillion pounds! He'd eat anything I'd prepared and relish every bite. Cooking was effortless and even fun.

It's different today, now that I've outlived my husband. I eat whatever's handy. Breakfast is yogurt, some fruit, a glass of skim milk and sometimes a granola bar. And, where is this illusion of a meal taking place? Certainly not at the kitchen table. Nothing lonelier than sitting at a table by yourself. Nope, I've gotten quite handy at stuffing my face with my left hand, while my right fingers click the mouse button on the computer. Lunch might be out-with-the-girls - that's always enjoyable - or a microwaved Lean Cuisine in the staff lounge. Often as not, if I'm home, a handful of rolled up turkey breast while standing at the kitchen counter watching the noon news constitutes the menu. Dinner might be eaten either at point A or point B, or even in the Lazy Boy, but NEVER ALONE AT THE TABLE. Ever have popcorn for dinner?