Vegetarians - The Lepers of the Carnivorous Family Get-Togthers

Heading upstate NY tomorrow for Easter with the family. My sister, Denise, will be making an 18 lb ham. Of course, I won't have any as I suffer from what my mother thinks is a disease, vegetarianism. We go to a restaurant, she whispers to the waitress , "mine doter doesn’t eat meat anymore." She asks me if I will be having cornbeefed for St Patty's Day and says, "oh I forgot, you don’t eat da meat anymore." Thanksgiving she gave me a sigh of pity over the phone when she realized I would not be eating any turkey."Oh ya, das ist vight, no meat" after I explained that turkey and other fowl are a no-no for me now.

My mother’s reaction to my latest lifestyle choice reminds me of when I was of drinking age and I would go out to dinner with my mother and father. My mother would order her, “Bloody Mary mit Absolut,” and my father a martini. I would order a glass of milk. Guess after growing up having milk with dinner almost every night, I grew accustomed to it and actually enjoyed it! So on one of our dinners out, I ordered my usual. My father just looked at me and said “You sure you are related to us?”