2000:  Where Is God?
2001:  Walking and Gawking
2002:  Older than Dirt
2003:  Land of Plenty
2004:  New York, New York, that Wonderful Town
2005:  Home Free
2006:  Handwriting on the Wall

NOBODY ATE THE KRAFT DINNER
(and other topics)

19 May 2007

I think it was only family members who ate the huge mound of Kraft dinner at David's memorial service.  I'm sure most of the people who came thought that having a huge container full of Kraft dinner was a very weird thing to serve at a funeral.

But David loved Kraft dinner (or if he had grown tired of it, he kept up the pretense), usually having it for lunch most days and sometimes he'd eat a box of it as an evening snack before dinner, when he still lived at home.  We were in agreement that if it was David's funeral, there had to be Kraft dinner.

(I guess we were lucky that he died after he gave up his daily peanut butter, jelly and tuna sandwiches! ─ that's peanut butter, jelly and tuna together in one sandwich.)

In the years after his death (11 of them today), we mostly continued having Kraft dinner on May 18.  Stupid habit!  Pretend food.  Soggy Cheetos!

Some years Walt and I go out to dinner on the anniversaries of Paul's and David's deaths.  That usually means sushi and no Kraft dinner.   But Walt is out of town today.  I'm going off to review a show tonight and I stopped by the supermarket to pick up a few things, including some Kraft dinner.  I also picked up a lamb chop to go along with it.  (I'm not THAT much of a purist after 11 years!)  Then, as it turned out, I'd had such a late lunch that when dinnertime rolled around, I wasn't hungry and so didn't have anything at all.

I tried to give blood today, but my hematocrit level was too low.  I think it has to be 39 before they'll let you give.  I am frequently 38 and have to wait another week, but I was really surprised to discover I was 34 instead.  I went out and bought a bunch of iron-rich foods and I'm scheduled to donate again in another month.

Maybe this explains why I've been so sleepy lately.

And I'm concerned about the puppies.  I'm used to them pooping out these little rat turd-like things, so it was rather a shock to discover this when I woke up from a nap this afternoon.

Nobody seems to be sick, nothing seems unusual, but thank goodness for digital photography.  I was able to e-mail this photo off to Ashley for her opinion.  I was relieved to hear from here that there was nothing unusual and that the copious amount of excrement was the puppies' adjusting to the formula.

Without dinner, I drove in to Woodland to review a production of Death of a Salesman, a play I like very much. 

Nothing that puts your day in appropriate parenthesis than starting it at the gravesite of your children and ending it as the family stands at the gravesite of Willie Loman. 

Actually, it was a very good production and a shame that so few people came to see it.  I'll give it a (well-earned) good review and hope to spark interest.

One of the perks of this job is seeing things that I might not be tempted to buy a ticket for.  We first saw Death of a Salesman in Ashland, as part of the Shakespeare festival (which always does some non-Shakespeare productions as well).  I was blown away by this American classic and I continue to be very taken with the story.  (One of the best productions that I remember seeing was the TV version starring Dustin Hoffman.)

By the time I got home, I was hungry, so I cooked up the Kraft dinner ─ which, I have to admit, just doesn't taste as good as it used to.  Either my taste buds have changed or the formula has changed.  But I dutifully ate a small bowl and will share the rest with the dogs at breakfast in the morning.

So I did, after all, stick with tradition and I have had my May 18 bowl of Kraft dinner...and I still have that lovely lamb chop to enjoy for dinner tomorrow, along with a big iron-rich serving of spinach, hoping to rebuild my hematocrit level.

(See?  And you thought I couldn't tie the subjects of this entry together in a nice neat parcel, didn't you!)

May 18

|

<--previous | next -->

Journal home | bio | cast | archive | links | awards |  Flickr | Bev's Home Page