Philosophy of my Life via Food

I've been playing a game in my head. It goes like this:

If I had to pick one dinner selection to symbolize my life, what would it be & why?

EASY - My mom's meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn. Why those?

Mom's meatloaf is comforting, contains ONLY things I would eat outside of a meatloaf (I'm an extremely picky eater, so that's saying a lot) and it's strangely familiar, though no one I've ever met makes meatloaf that way, except me and my mom. Some people put oatmeal, peppers, tomato sauce, whatever in their meatloaf. Not mom's. She's got a killer recipe and I think it's divine. I'm pretty sure Jerry likes it too, although the first time he ever had it, he was a little nervous I think because it looked different from what he was used to. I tried to explain to it that *I* am different than what he was used to, and I tasted good, so the same should hold true for the meatloaf.

Mashed potatoes symbolize my emotional state most of the time - smooshie. There's some lumps and some peaks and valleys, but overall, it's smooth & creamy. However, when I eat this combo for dinner, I take my corn and mix it up in my potatoes - no gravy - but butter. The corn represents the little bumps that come up in my emotional state of being - loss of my grandma, loss of pets, other hardships. More symbolic than that however is that we all know how corn comes out of your body - pretty much looking the same way it went in, meaning that the bad things are still bad things, even when you've had time to digest them. The butter just helps it slide down a little easier. The butter is my smoking habit.

OH! And every now and again, I'll put some ketchup on my meatloaf just to give it a little zing! That ketchup (yes Jerry, it's Heinz) symbolizes the little things I add to life to give it variety, to make it different from the routine. I don't add it often, just when the meatloaf is dry. And I don't slather it with ketchup - I dunk it, piece by piece. Just a little bit - not too much. And not every piece is dunked when I decide ketchup is in order.

For my beverage with this meal, I'd choose milk. Because it's wholesome. Like me!

Dessert: Strawberry Shortcake (no, not Barb!) with Cool Whip on it. But not the syrupy sweet strawberries - fresh ones. They need to be a little tart. The shortcake and coolwhip will add all of the sweetness I need. A little bit of sweet, a little bit tart, and a whole lot of goodness. Just the way I envision my perfect self - I'll get there some day, really I will!

I'm such a simple midwestern girl, that I wonder how the fuck I'm surviving here, surrounded by southern ladies who put tomato sauce on their meatloaf. I don't fit in, I never will. And that's ok. I just won't eat meatloaf here, unless I've made it. That's the way I like it. I am what I am, take it or leave it.

What's on the plate of your life?