Live and let live ~

No, I'm not about break into song about James Bond.  I am going to talk about being excluded from activities because my lifestyle is drastically different.  The way I am eating right now is not going to last forever.  Well, in a way it is, because I will forever be eating small portions of only healthy food. But, for now, I am very limited to what I can eat because my body is healing.  My surgeon says to think of my new stomach as you would a new born baby.  At first, they can only tolerate breast milk/formula.  They body is not ready to tolerate solid food.  Then, they progress to cereal and then to pureed foods.  As they grow and their body and digestive system matures, they can graduate to toddler foods, and then to regular table foods.  That's me exactly.  So, on with my story.  Yesterday morning, I was running a few errands with my brother.  He does not drive, so I'm his ride.  He mentioned to me that he was spending the night at my sister's house.  We live close to each other and watch out for each other.  I always tell him if I am going to be away for a night or more - and he tells me the same.  If I called him or went to his house and he was not there for an extended length of time, I would worry, and he would the same.  I asked why he was spending the night and he said that he was going over to her house to watch movies and have dinner.  They would come to pick him up and then bring him back home the next day.  Diane makes wonderful chili and at halloween we usually get together and watch scary movies (the old ones are the best) and have chili and hot dogs.  It's fun.  We have done this for years.  I asked why I wasn't invited.  I was disappointed.  He said he didn't know the reason.  Well, not being one to be shy about anything, I said I was going to call her and ask her why I was being excluded.  I did call her, and to make a long story short, her reasoning was that she did not want to invite me because she didn't want to eat in front of me.  I can understand that they were going to have foods that I could not eat and she was trying to spare me having to watch them eat, but, she was also leaving me out of a family tradition and fun.  That is not cool.  The best thing to do was to call me and tell me about the dinner and ask me if I wanted to be a part of it because of my diet.  There might have been a time when I would have rather stayed home and isolated myself because my life was so drastically different, but that is not the case. I am embracing this new life and want my life to be fuller because of it.  I'm sure not everybody understands this, but it's true.  I need to learn to be around people who eat differently than I do.  If I were diabetic, I wouldn't think that I would be excluded from activities because of my diet.  The same goes here.  I did go to the dinner and it was all fine.  They apologized for eating in front of me, but it was not necessary.  I chose to do this and I can handle it.  So, like I said to begin with, live and let live (not die, as in the case of James Bond).

I hope the story is helpful.  It was for me to tell it.  I don't think I need to say anymore.

Stay tuned for more. But for now,
woof, meow and xoxo from Bonnie and her furry family.