And I mean like a real meat eater.  You know the kind of girl I mean, one who can sit down to a juicy burger or steak and eat it with relish and abandon.  I can do chicken, fish, pork – including but not limited to bacon, ham and loins.  I can do almost any meat as long as it really doesn’t taste like meat ~ or blood. The only time I ever remember wanting beef was when I was pregnant with Zach and then the only type of beef I craved was a Wendy’s single with cheese, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mustard and mayo.  It masked the taste of the actual burger.  There are times when I just wish I really liked the taste of meat but fact of the matter is, I would make a terrible vampire, that metallic-y taste of blood swirling around on my tongue would set me over the edge.

Everyone else in my family are die hard meat-a-tarians.  They can all throw back steaks, burgers or any type of meat.  Lamb?  Bring it on (except for Claire who won’t eat lamb or veal on principal).  Pork?  Flip a big ol’ slab on their plates and they’ll come back for more.  Brisket or steak?  Better double what you think you might need.  They all live and breathe for meat.

This aversion to meat, specifically beef, is nothing new for me.  I’ve been this way since I was little.  Whenever we would go out to a steak place for dinner I would always ask to get the popcorn shrimp.  If we would go to a cookout and all that was served were hamburgers, I would take a bun, a tomato, some lettuce and pass my hamburger patty off on someone else.  I remember one Christmas, my mom fixed prime rib for our special holiday meal.  She cut off a generous portion for me and slid it on my plate.  Most people I know would have been in heaven but, me?  I almost lost the contents of my stomach at the dinner table…the damn slab was swimming in blood and still mooing.  It scarred me for life.

I’m trying so very hard to not pass on my beef/meat aversion on to my kids.  And, for the most part, it’s working.  Claire does watch me intently sometimes to see what I will and won’t eat.  The lamb and veal thing, that’s probably my doing.  It would just be so much easier, though, if I just went with it and ate meat instead of bucking the system and passing on the beef.  Luckily for her, she hasn’t caught on to my hotdog/sausage aversion or she could be in serious trouble when it comes to cookouts (hotdogs and sausages get my gag reflex going before they even pass my lips…I’m shuddering just thinking about them!  BLECHY, is the only word I can think of to describe them!)  This is the one thing that I am very glad that the kids are taking after Stan.  It’s just so much easier to conform than to buck the system and it would be so much easier if I were a meat-a-tarian.

Oh, for the love of my children….