Creature of Habit

Yet another thing that I blame on my Mom. And again, something that won't come as a surprise to her. Like most people, I am a creature of habit. Although, sometimes I think that my habits flirt with neuroses.

Growing up, we had many things that were done in an organized matter. I'm not surprised because trying to run a household with 7 people had to be organized. There really wasn't room for spontaneity, simply because there wasn't time. The schedule and menu for eating was pretty fixed. We knew that on Saturdays there would be french toast for breakfast, followed by a whirlwind of chores to be done. And on Sundays there would always be pancakes for breakfast. The Saturday menu could be thrown off occasionally by some cocoa wheats, and Sunday could be thrown off by a German pancake or scrambled eggs. But that was really rare.

In eating, one rule applied: never, and I mean never, was breakfast served for dinner. Dinner consisted of traditional dinner foods: spaghetti, tacos, chili, chicken, etc. Straying from that would send any of us into hysterics. My siblings tell the story of the time when my Mom was in the hospital having me, they had to go to a neighbor's for dinner. When the food was served, they looked down at plates of pancakes. Immediately, most of them burst into tears. After some counseling from our oldest sister, they agreed to be polite and eat some of the "dinner" and waited anxiously for my aunt to rescue them and take them to McDonald's.

The same rule goes for breakfast: dinner foods are never to be eaten for breakfast. Breakfast strictly consists of things that are listed on any diner's breakfast section of the menu. There's a reason why it has the title breakfast.

It was always interesting to realize that not every other family did the same thing we did. Soon, after spending many nights sleeping over at friends' houses, I started branching out into the forbidden territory. I realized that pizza wasn't so bad for breakfast when you were really hungry, and sometimes pancakes tasted a little different, but still good, when you had them for dinner.

Yet, even though I did experience things on the other side, I still remain true to my upbringing. Every weekday, with the exception of the days we're out of milk, I have oatmeal for breakfast. The lunches I bring to school contain the same things everyday: a turkey sandwich with mustard on wheat bread, a cheese stick, a V-8, and a piece of fruit. This isn't far from my high school lunches, which consisted of lunch meat on wheat bread, a juice box, and a piece of fruit. Sometimes this habit is a result of laziness, or rather that I don't want to make big decisions in the wee hours while getting ready for school.

And even though I'm married to a man who likes breakfast for dinner and vice verse, I still like my breakfast foods for breakfast and my dinner foods for dinner. I am my mother's daughter, after all, the product of the creature of habit who taught me well.