My Own Personal Picnic Basket

When I write a post, I re-read for spelling mistakes (and of course miss several) and grammatically errors (they will be dotted about too I am sure), but sometimes I read and re-read them because even though they are my stories, my thoughts or feelings I often worry how I might come across. Like most written words, it kind of depends on the quality of the writer :) and also on the ears that it falls. By this I mean I know who I am and my intent but I do not know who you are or your personality or even your mood as you are reading this paragraph. I use a lot of LOL's and HaHa's in my text messages and my friends/family will all agree to this and the reason for this is simply...I don't want the recipient to misconstrue my "intent". The same thing goes for this post... upon reading it for the third time I realize that I may come across as a real pompous so-and-so, which I am most certainly NOT. I eat apples I do not upset their carts! So that being said, please regard me gently on this one, even for me it was totally a new experience.

Years ago I would have thought the idea rude to tell someone hosting a luncheon or dinner that I would be bringing my own food, in fact I still cannot believe that I found the stones to actually DO it. I toiled with the idea before heading out for our first weekend away since losing my weight, my husband and I were off to see his relatives that we hadn't travelled to see in 9 years. This meant that no one had seen his 60 lb weight loss or my 175 lb weight loss. I knew that as obvious as it was and how dramatically we had changed it did not automatically mean that we would be receiving comments on how well we looked. Let's face it, all people are different and I've learned to expect the unexpected. So since we were invited to lunch at one family members home where I had no idea of the menu I decided, that in order to stay true to my commitment and how I wanted my weekend to go, I would need to politely advise ahead of time that I would be bringing my own fare. I also mentioned that aside from a plate, knife and fork I required no other 'special attention'.

For some this may seem impolite, or disrespectful or both and I can see why that would be the case and I truly did go through all of these thoughts carefully but the end result came back to me...WOW, I just said that. I mean I really worked hard for what I've accomplished and I know my weaknesses and after travelling 2-3 hours to get to our destination and having a family who can bake delicious goodies potentially derail my weekend ++ was unsettling to me. I needed to have control BEFORE I left. So I made sure that the host did not prepare for me and then be disappointed (that was the first thing) and secondly I made sure that I brought things in containers that I would bring home and wash with me and that the food would be prepared in such a way that it did not need to be cooked on the stove upon arrival screwing up any preparations that the host might be engaged in. Simple, quick and keeping the focus on the conversation and the visit - that was my goal.

I figured the loved one could be insulted by what I did and can talk about me after I left (totally fine with that by the way ;) but would anyone have been less offended if they had served me red meat which I no longer eat or highly processed take out food from their favourite diner (yummy but which I also would not have eaten). This would have lead to some embarrassing moments, awkwardness and uneasiness for everyone and could have derailed the visit. But by addressing it beforehand, it went very well indeed. We all had a great time, the conversation flowed, lots of laughter - my husband and I even got told how well we both looked and how they were amazed by our weight loss. So not only was it a successful trip but the biggest win of all was that I didn't compromise myself or my chosen path to a healthier and more food conscious me! and that DOES taste good!