Hello - it's been a while

Due to some happenings in my personal life, I've been unable to dedicate as much time as I'd like to this blog. However, I do have a few things to say.

My father passed away last week from ALS - and I'd never before realized how much food people bring to the bereaved! I went home on Friday afternoon and spent the weekend - there was an incessant flow of people coming in with food; cakes; cookies; casseroles; risotto; vegetable platters; cheese and meat platters; fruit; buns; assorted desserts; salads ... the list goes on and on. Enough food to feed an army presented to a household that has only three permanent members. In my experience, grieving individuals often have little to no appetite, for very good reason. Instead, my stepmother is left with mountains of food, stuff that will likely not be eaten before it expires.

Food is a normalizer in this society, I think. Think of all the things we do while eating: get engaged; break up; fight; make up; make important business decisions; make someone feel better with food... I could go on, but I think you get the picture. I remember feeling upset as a child and my mother's response being to give me food, usually cookies or ice cream, because I know now she didn't know how else to react or help me.

Aside from that, my eating disorder is rearing it's head very noisily. My new psychiatrist prescribed meal replacement shakes because I've likely lost 15-20 lbs in the last few weeks to a month. There are other factors that are affecting my eating, but I don't much care to go into them here. Instead, I'm going to continue boggling at the amount of food given to bereaved families, when most grieving folks don't have an appetite.

Rest in peace, Dad.