School Lunch

Yesterday Taylor and I met Mauri at her school to share a Thanksgiving meal together.  Kind of.  Tay declined the lunch, with the idea that he and I would stop "somewhere else" afterwards, on our way to or from checking out a car he had an interest in possibly purchasing.  Since I hadn't had breakfast, I hopped in the lunch line with Mauri, and collected my full amount of food (veggies and all) to get every penny's worth out of my $3 meal.

The school I work at was also having a family-invited Thanksgiving meal.  As I was saying good-bye to my kindies earlier that day, one mom mentioned that she was headed to McDonald's to purchase food, then she would be back to have lunch with her older son and kindie.  "They won't eat the school's lunch," she said.  "Now there's a good mom," I thought.  (By the way, I am truly thankful that, at Mauri's school, the 4th grade eats last, giving me plenty of time to join her without having to leave work early or find a sub.)

Once we were by the lunchroom at the school, waiting for Mar's class to join us, my friend Rebecca mentioned that she wasn't actually eating lunch.  Just visiting.

After being seated, food in front of me, I heard a mom down the table yell across to another mom, "I work at a school... I see the food prepared all the time... I would never eat it!"

Mar pointed out a "hair" in her potatoes.  I looked closely.  Only a piece of lint.

I commented on how it would be much easier to eat the turkey if we had been given a knife.  The wimpy plastic fork just wasn't cutting it. Suddenly a lady passing out knives appeared.

The rest of the story:

Tay ate my roll and half of Mar's, along with my cookie.  He never got to stop "somewhere else" because looking at the car took longer than anticipated, and he had to be at work by 3.  He was probably wishing he had eaten the school lunch.

Mar didn't eat her potatoes, but did eat the turkey (a first).  And the cranberry sauce.  And her green beans.  And the cookie.  And two bites off of the top of her roll.

I ate it all (except for the roll and cookie, which I kindly shared with Tay).  I ignored the comments about school lunch, and didn't let that lint in Mar's potatoes or the watery salad throw me off.  I was thankful for the sudden appearance of a plastic knife, with which I was able to eat my turkey with dignity.  

I was grateful to have my hunger abated, and was, in the end, satisfied.