Wedding + a GF Cookie = a HAPPY Single Lady!

Weddings!  I love to attend them...usually!  The joy of the wedding couple, the fun I have dancing, and the time I get to spend hanging out with people I cherish make it it a fun event!  I will admit though that there is one ritual that gives me a slightly awkward feeling...The moment when they call out all of the single ladies (usually all 20 somethings or younger...and then there is little ole me who is happy being 35 and single) to throw the bouquet.  It is like those games we played when we were younger, you know, where you chose the one thing that doesn't belong...me!  To be honest, I have really thought about doing something different when I get married.  I am thinking that I might make all of the married ladies come out onto the dance floor, so I can throw a baby rattle to see who will be the next to have a baby!  Lol!

Oh wait!  That is me getting off subject again...Anyways, I have to say that it is a good thing that I love weddings because I have 3 on my calendar this fall!  Over the last year and half, weddings have become a little harder to maneuver for me.  First of all, most of them are at dinner time and last for at least 4 hours or more.  Secondly, sometimes you have no idea what will be on the dinner menu, so it is difficult to plan ahead.  However, the worst part is that generally you are at a public place with a lot of people you know.  This means that if you are starving and you take a chance and accidentally eat gluten, then there are a lot of people who are likely to witness you experiencing an embarrassing moment that will including gas, a trip to the bathroom, or BOTH!  Not a great way to keep friends!!!

With all of this being said, I recently attended my cousin's wedding in Charlotte and I am extremely grateful for the time and effort my aunt and cousin put into making the wedding weekend relaxing and embarrassment free!  First of all, as I was leaving for the rehearsal dinner, a basket of snacks arrived at my hotel room...full of gluten free treats!!!  Panic attack due to lack of gluten free foods avoided!  A few minutes after I arrived at the restaurant for the rehearsal dinner, I quickly became touched and surprised!  My aunt and uncle were late to the rehearsal dinner because they left the rehearsal and went to another restaurant to get me and my dad gluten free hamburgers so that we could eat a safe meal that was like everyone else's!!!  No words can ever express what that meant to me!  Then the next day at the wedding, my aunt and cousin made sure that my dad and I had a gluten free meal.  The best part was the box of goodies that arrived on our table after the meal!  Even though there were gluten free cupcakes on the dessert bar, my dad and I were given a sampling of the gluten free desserts (with the BEST gluten free chocolate chip cookie I have ever tasted) in a box so that cross contamination would not occur!  Yet again I could not believe it!  My aunt and cousin were celebrating one of the most important weekends of their lives...but were still thinking of me and my father and trying to make us feel comfortable and safe!  When you have Celiac Disease you begin to appreciate when people educate themselves and go out of their way to accommodate you...especially when you don't ask them to do it!!!  So on a final note...Thank you Myranda and Jill!  You will never understand how appreciative I am for that delicious, worry-free wedding weekend!

Panic Attacks and Joyful Surprises

When you find out you have an allergy to a certain type of food, you start to panic over things that seem small to others but major for you.  For example, this morning I ran out the door without my lunch.  Any normal assistant principal would say, "oh well, I will just grab something from the cafeteria", but not me!  I went into full panic mode!  What am I going to eat?  I will starve all day because I can't leave work until 7:30 pm tonight!  You see, when you can eat anything you unconsciously take for grant that food will always be available.  I mean how many miles until another McDonald's?  You can almost walk from one to the other.  However, with a food allergy, it is not as simple as just grabbing something.  You worry as to whether or not you will find that one item without gluten that you can eat.  Thank goodness today the cafeteria was able to make me a salad...and I had a check to pay for it since I was also out of cash!

With all that being said, you also find joy in the smallest things.  For example, this weekend my family went to Blowing Rock/Boone.  I was in charge of determining where we were going to eat for every meal.  (Which I will admit sometimes get very annoying but I have to accept it because I do have limited options.)  I went to my "Find Me Gluten Free" app and looked for reviews on gluten free restaurants in Boone/Blowing Rock.  I noticed that one restaurant had at least 32 reviews and they were all good, so this is where we headed for supper one night.  After we were seated in this little restaurant called Coyote Kitchen, I began my ritual of asking all of the crazy questions I have to ask (which are extremely embarrassing for myself and sometimes the people with me).  However, after my first question, I went into shock!  I told the waitress that my father and I had Celiac disease and then asked what on the menu was gluten free.  Her response...EVERYTHING!  I was thinking "yeah right" and was full of doubt.  Then the waitress started telling me about their dedicated gluten free fryer and how all of their breading on their foods were gluten free!  It hit me then that she knew what she was talking about!  She even knew the difference between a person with gluten intolerance and a person with Celiac disease!!!  She started telling me that since we had Celiac disease then one person would prep our meal to prevent cross-contamination.  I say this with all sincerity...I wanted to cry right then and there and hug her!  This meant that I could have French fries, casseroles, burgers (with a bun), and even pumpkin spice cake if I wanted!  Some of you may not understand why this was amazing so let me try to explain.  If you knew me before I found out I had Celiac disease, then you know that I lived off of cheese fries with bacon and ranch!  That was my stress food!  Since cutting out all gluten a year and a half ago, I have only had Chick-fil-a fries (dedicated fryer) and cafeteria smiley fries (a picture is below).  Those fries are nowhere close to cheese fries!  I ended up ordering fries with everything they could put on it!  I was in heaven!  I also ate a casserole with all kinds of delicious ingredients...and the best part was that I never got sick!  Finally I had options that tasted delicious and that I could count on to keep me out of the bathroom all night!  I had choices and the convenience that someone else was making my meal!  To be honest, I wanted to eat there for every meal but I knew that my mother (non-Celiac) would get tired of the same food every day!  Thank you Coyote Kitchen for giving me one night of happiness and allowing me to feel the joy of eating that I rarely get with Celiac disease!!!  Most importantly though, it goes to show that a little education on Celiac disease and other food allergies can really make a difference by providing people with the security they need to enjoy a meal with lots of options and free of worries of what side effects they will encounter later on that night after their meal!

Smiley fries like I get to eat in the cafeteria!  Warning - must use lots of ranch to make them taste good!