What did I do?

Well, I may have just inadvertently and single-handedly created the worlds youngest by-choice vegetarian. You will need some background here if you don't know me. I was a vegetarian from around junior year in high school until I got engaged to the meat-eater of a man I am married to now. When we got engaged I started trying to incorporate meats into my diet so that I did not have to cook separate meals. I know some husbands will go with whatever is made for them, but mine is not one of them. He gets cranky if he doesn't get his meat. Anyway, the background you really need is not how I became a meat-eater again, but how I became a vegetarian. Or more importantly, why?

When I was very young (not sure exactly how old,) I went fishing with my daddy every summer. One summer, he taught me how to clean them, showed me the parts of the insides of a fish. I was fascinated by this (and it was the beginning of a love of science,) however, when the same fish found its way to my plate that night for dinner it was less than appetizing to say the least. And that was the end of all seafood for me. Fast forward a few years to church camp, maybe around twelve years of age. The boys all thought it would be funny to tease me, the unabashed animal lover, that we would be eating the camp pig for breakfast. They proceeded to make me a bet that I couldn't give up all meat for the whole week. Took that bet and won. Although my parents made me eat most meats, I was able to add pig to my will absolutely not eat list. Pork was gone. Fast forward another year or two, my Nanny taught me how to cook chicken fried steak, and it BLED all over the pan. Gross! Chicken fried steak and pretty much all steaks added to my list and I didn't touch them. At this point, things started dropping like flies, as far as what I would eat willingly. By the time I was a junior in highscool, there was nothing left but hamburgers and chicken breasts for me to eat and my parents finally allowed me to be a vegetarian. So I gave up the last meats and embraced new forms of protein. Like I said before, Brian changed all that, but not until that ring was on my finger. I ate meat a couple of times during college on dares, but that was it.

So that's the background for the current story IF you made it this far. I figured people who grow up on farms and see the cow or pig go from the backyard to the kitchen table probably never had these shocking revelations that led me to vegetarianism. So my master plan was to be very open about it from when the kids were very little and it would just be accepted that we eat animals for dinner every night. (Really every night only when Brian is here. Confession: when he was gone for the year we barely ate meat. Hey, I still have my preferences and I only changed for him.) So, when they saw me with raw meat and asked what it was, I told them, "It's pork from a pig and it's our dinner," with a smile on my face. Hannah's reaction was, "What! We're eating Wilbur?!!" Just kidding. Really she said, "We eat pigs? That's gross." Problem #1 I think I didn't think of this plan early enough and she is already too old to think it normal as bathing to eat pigs. Now she doesn't want to eat meat. Brian is desparately trying to brainwash her into believeing it tastes too good to matter where it came from and the whole circle of life bit. So far, we haven't had any out right refusals to eat the meat served to her. But I get questions as if she is planning to do that some day like, "Peanut butter and jelly (her favorite couldn't-live-without-it food) doesn't have meat in it does it?" She was even hugging the turkeys at the grocery store before Thanksgiving worrying about them even though it was too late for them. They were doomed to be consumed. Genevieve is still in this sister adoration phase and will just copy whatever Hannah does. Isaac doesn't seem to care one way or another. So maybe there is still hope for them. I just can't believe that a six year old would be interested in becoming a vegetarian. I desire for them all to be omnivores for the same reason I converted from my vegetarian diet. I want to cook ONE meal for dinner! I have enough on my plate (no pun intended) without having to worry about cooking a separate meatless protein every night!