love in the drive-thru

I had to take Brynn to the doctor yesterday. That's a thing with kids, doctors. They have to go. Now, I know some of you hippies don't take your kids to the doctor and I don't mind that at all. But if you ever happen to have a 2 pound kid (my specialty), then you learn to love them. Doctors, that is. Kids are easy to love when they're 2 pounds, even though they look kinda like aliens.  Where am I here? Ah, right. Doctors. So we went and then the doctor asked me what does Brynn eat.

And with that, the world went a little slo-mo as my mind tried to remember what the child eats. She's six, for pete's sake. She has eaten a great deal of things. Being the only girl, she has eaten fewer insects and under-chair gum than her brothers, but still, there is so much to be said. So I am blank, blank and I don't say anything, which sounds pretty damning from a parenting perspective. Then I remember the terms "Standard American Diet", used in a derogatory sense on multiple food documentaries. Oh yeah, I watch food documentaries, until I start getting terribly stressed out about the thought of eating only kale for the rest of my life. Organic, happy grass-fed kale. "Standard American Diet," someone sneers, while flashing pictures of obese people eating all of the things I love. 

Anyway, I told her that Brynn primarily eats cheeseburgers and macaroni and cheese, which I can't say I'm proud of, but you don't lie to a pediatrician. First rule. "I always plan to get healthier," I say weakly. That's true, I always do plan that, but somehow every day just ends up being a surprise somehow, like I wasn't expecting everyone to need lunch again. On Monday, I think, things are going to change around here. And they do, they always change, but that change typically means another scattered and carbolicious meal, rather than some kind of studious healthier choices. 

Truthfully, I'm just shooting for getting to the place where we are eating less fast food and more meat and vegetables. Not kale-fed free range buffalo from my backyard, just maybe less soy/beef from McDonald's. You know? When you are like me, and this is how you have always eaten, "health" can be terribly intimidating. So I'm just going to aim for "health-ier". But not tonight. Tonight I'm eating brownies.