I have a cold, and all I want right now is some hot chocolate, but I've finally taken the last step into Dairy Freedom. I have cut milk out of my diet. I am so glad I did because it was the final thing needed to help Grace make "stinkers" (as we call them at our house) even easier than she was after I cut cheese and other processed dairy out of my diet. Now to work on the other kids. Specifically Lydia and Henry. These are my two milk-lovers, and not surprisingly, both struggled with withholding their "stinkers." Henry still does to a point. I think that when they were babes, the processed dairy made their "stinkers" so hard that they began holding it in because it hurt to come out, and then it became a habit.
Ben is a cheese-lover and is having a hard time admitting that since I've stopped using cheese/cream cheese/sour cream in my cooking that his allergies are better. He says, "I didn't have that big of an allergy problem!" How we forget so soon. He and I struggled the most (his and my favorite lunch was cheese tortillas which we ate 2-3 times each week), and this past fall, being cheese-free, neither of us had ANY allergy issues. Given the chance, he eats cheese still. I hope to get him fully on board with Dairy Freedom. :-) I need to pray about that one, I guess.
I remember a few years ago reading about a famous actor and how she didn't eat dairy. I thought, "What a freak!" (Yes, I am so kind) It's funny how time changes things. My favorite quote is by Harvey Bluedorn, of Trivium Pursuit. Well, this is a paraphrase...my copy of "Teaching the Trivium" is where Grace is sleeping right now, so I can't go get it....anyway, it goes something like this: "if I'm supposed to be in New York, but you see me in Chicago, don't judge me. I'm on the road to eventually get there."
We are all on a crazy, one-of-a-kind journey, aren't we? I enjoy the peace that Harvey's words gave me. I don't have to get all worked up because I hear a story about my best friend's next door neighbor's cousin that proves she is "obviously" on the "wrong path." Nah, I can give her Grace (not my baby, Grace, but you know, GRACE) knowing that she may not be too far behind me on the journey and just maybe I can encourage her through prayer or a word spoken at the right time.
I feel that Grace every time I talk with a friend from high school, or college....really, any of my friends from those early years. I look back and just cringe at some of the things I said or did and wonder how I still have those friends. How do I still have the love of my husband and children, for that matter? Ever see that movie, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"? The characters in the movie erase memories that become distasteful to them. I would like to do that to everyone around me first, and then me, so we can all forget the time that I picked a fight with Darin because he vacuumed BEFORE dusting, or the day that I forced the kids against their own better judgement to re-enact "Peter and the Wolf" as we played it in the CD player...it seemed like a fun idea until I wigged out because they weren't as "into it" as me. ;-) I would also like to forget the day that I had TWO venti chai teas from Starbucks, but that's going to take more than a mind-erase. More like several workouts...
Sometimes the biggest things I want to erase are the things I know now. Like the whole dairy thing. Wasn't it so much easier to just eat cheese/sour cream/cream cheese/milk? Recipes with these yummy products are easy to come by, and easy to eat, and no one looked at me sideways for being that "freaky dairy free woman" that throws a wet blanket on their pizza party. Ignorance is bliss - but then so is life without Claritin, nose spray and a baby who can make "stinkers" without stress, ya? ;-)
Ben is a cheese-lover and is having a hard time admitting that since I've stopped using cheese/cream cheese/sour cream in my cooking that his allergies are better. He says, "I didn't have that big of an allergy problem!" How we forget so soon. He and I struggled the most (his and my favorite lunch was cheese tortillas which we ate 2-3 times each week), and this past fall, being cheese-free, neither of us had ANY allergy issues. Given the chance, he eats cheese still. I hope to get him fully on board with Dairy Freedom. :-) I need to pray about that one, I guess.
I remember a few years ago reading about a famous actor and how she didn't eat dairy. I thought, "What a freak!" (Yes, I am so kind) It's funny how time changes things. My favorite quote is by Harvey Bluedorn, of Trivium Pursuit. Well, this is a paraphrase...my copy of "Teaching the Trivium" is where Grace is sleeping right now, so I can't go get it....anyway, it goes something like this: "if I'm supposed to be in New York, but you see me in Chicago, don't judge me. I'm on the road to eventually get there."
We are all on a crazy, one-of-a-kind journey, aren't we? I enjoy the peace that Harvey's words gave me. I don't have to get all worked up because I hear a story about my best friend's next door neighbor's cousin that proves she is "obviously" on the "wrong path." Nah, I can give her Grace (not my baby, Grace, but you know, GRACE) knowing that she may not be too far behind me on the journey and just maybe I can encourage her through prayer or a word spoken at the right time.
I feel that Grace every time I talk with a friend from high school, or college....really, any of my friends from those early years. I look back and just cringe at some of the things I said or did and wonder how I still have those friends. How do I still have the love of my husband and children, for that matter? Ever see that movie, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"? The characters in the movie erase memories that become distasteful to them. I would like to do that to everyone around me first, and then me, so we can all forget the time that I picked a fight with Darin because he vacuumed BEFORE dusting, or the day that I forced the kids against their own better judgement to re-enact "Peter and the Wolf" as we played it in the CD player...it seemed like a fun idea until I wigged out because they weren't as "into it" as me. ;-) I would also like to forget the day that I had TWO venti chai teas from Starbucks, but that's going to take more than a mind-erase. More like several workouts...
Sometimes the biggest things I want to erase are the things I know now. Like the whole dairy thing. Wasn't it so much easier to just eat cheese/sour cream/cream cheese/milk? Recipes with these yummy products are easy to come by, and easy to eat, and no one looked at me sideways for being that "freaky dairy free woman" that throws a wet blanket on their pizza party. Ignorance is bliss - but then so is life without Claritin, nose spray and a baby who can make "stinkers" without stress, ya? ;-)
