Clam Chowder & Dog Food

I was about nine or ten years old, but it was around that time when I was taught a few lessons.  

It was dinner time.  I was particularly hungry and I think a little crabby at the time too.  I was a very picky eater.  I didn't eat all my vegetables, and I especially did not like seafood at the time.  To be quite honest, I remember complaining about the food a lot. I was pretty picky!

Our family was sitting down to dinner when I realized that my mom had made clam chowder for dinner. UGH! Not clam chowder.  Back then my mom didn't make two different kinds of soups, like she does now.  I started complaining about this meal.  I was getting so frustrated about it that I said, "I'd rather have dog food than clam chowder!!"

My mother, as wise as she is, got up from the table, grabbed my bowl, whisked off to the laundry room, and came back with a bowl full of dog food.  Then she said, "Go ahead and eat it." She sat down and proceeded to eat her dinner.

I was absolutely mortified.  Didn't she love me? Didn't she want me to eat something?  I ran off and cried in my room thinking that I wasn't going to get anything to eat that night.

Later on, she came to my room, comforted me and gave me a sandwich or something to eat.  But I learned a few things from that experience:

• Be grateful for the food that your mom has prepared because it could be worse -- dog food or nothing to eat at all.
• Mom meant business -- she had to follow through so that I could learn a lesson.
• In the end, she wanted to make things better by coming and expressing her love for me despite my ingratitude.