Dinner Debates

                Growing up, I learned pretty early that if you want food, you must claim it and fast. Especially now that I am living with two guys half the time, I know that when the bell dings indicating that it’s ready, you get up and you go. This is due to the fact that if I didn’t, it would be gone in a matter of minutes. Also, if you want something, you fight for it.

                One way I’ve learned this is through pizza. I like thick crust; deep dish pepperoni pizza is disgustingly fatty but ridiculously satisfying. My dad on the other hand likes thin crust with a lot of toppings, and so the debate would start; which one to choose? I’ve tried everything; sucking up, getting into an argument, and even saying ‘daddy please?’ in my sweet “I’m your baby girl” voice. It never works. If he’s the one paying for it, he’s the one picking it.

                Another way I learned this is with my brother. There would be days when we were younger my mom would make something and there would be just one left and too much pride in both of us to split it. On the good days we would just rock paper scissors for it, but then there were days that things got heated and we would have pinching fights that ended with bruises and my sister winning the food whether she wanted it or not.

                Although we would get into fights over food sometimes, there were many nights where there would be no fight at all, just calling over to the dog hoping he would come steal your food. Not everything that my parents made growing up was good tasting, mostly because my mother would get these kicks where she would cook something completely new that she heard about at work and never seemed to work the way she wanted it to. On those nights we enjoyed cheese and crackers and grapes for dinner. Dinner at my house is entertaining and likely to include fighting, but usually ends up in laughter and eating food that was always prepared last minute, but it is one of my favorite memories. (363)