Heaven
by GinafishSuzanne has been preoccupied with Heaven the last few days. Will she get to go there, can she go now, does God like mashed potatoes, she’ll miss her toys so now she never ever wants to go….It’s been quite an adventure watching her mind try to wrap itself around it.
Meanwhile, Ethan has a mystery rash on his face that I noticed this morning. Yesterday we ate at a Chinese restaurant, which he declared to be his favorite in the whole world. He ate a lot of food. The first plate had little fried chicken wings, fried potatoes, a crab Rangoon, and a cabbage roll (that I ended up eating). The second plate had some kiwi, grapes, red and green jello squares, and orange slices. Then he had a taste of Josh’s red beef stuff, and a bite of my coconut shrimp. And then he had a chocolate ice cream cone with colored sprinkles.
He has an appointment this Friday at the allergist. I’m going to get his dairy allergy retested and test him for beef. But in order to do that, he can’t have any antihistamines this week. Luckily, he says the rash doesn’t bother him, and apparently his teacher didn’t really notice, because he didn’t get sent home from school. I would hate to learn that he has to really cut out the dairy.
I am allergic to dairy, myself, and I don’t let it stop me when it comes to ice cream, cheese, and sometimes yogurt. I don’t drink milk straight up though. For the most part, my symptoms are gastrointestinal in nature and no one would know I’m allergic if I didn’t tell them. Josh and I were talking the other day about allergies, and I think the best time to learn about a big allergy like dairy is when you are really young, like 4, so as an adult, you don’t feel like you are missing anything b/c you don’t remember the taste. But really, if dairy leaves a rash on your face, people are going to know. Then it’s no more cheese crackers, no more pizza with cheese, no more mac and cheese, no more ice cream, no shakes, no cakes with milk, no cookies dipped in milk. This also sticks it to you by deleting milk chocolate from your vocabulary. It’s just all ugly.
The only good thing is that the information available is huge compared to 10 years ago. The amount of soy products you can buy at most regular grocery stores is enormous compared to it’s non-existent nature 15 years ago.
And if Ethan can keep eating cheese, he’ll be in Heaven. But Suzanne will want to know if God likes cheese before he goes. And does he like American or cheddar, because she doesn’t like cheddar, and she doesn’t like Parmesan, but Ethan likes shakey cheese so it’s up to him, she guesses.
Oh boy.
