“And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give:...” (Luke 10:7)
I had kind of an embarrassing experience last night that I’ll call “The Eating Thing”. We had an Assemblies of God meeting (primarily for pastors and their spouses) in Marlboro. (Our church is in the “Central Massachusetts Section” of the Southern New England District- this was a Sectional meeting.) The meeting began at 7. Typically, evening Sectional meetings will consist of some singing and worship, announcements, a special speaker, and a fellowship time featuring coffee, soda, water, and refreshments such as brownies, cookies, crackers and cheese, a vegetable tray...stuff like that.
The only ones home for supper last night were my 24-year-old son Jon and me. I grilled a couple of burgers and made a box of macaroni and cheese. I also drank a big mug of coffee after supper. I was SO full after supper that I had that “too full” feeling you can get. I actually took a brisk fifteen minute walk to kind of help me with digestion, and just so I wouldn’t feel so bloated and overstuffed. When I arrived at the 7:00 meeting (just about on time) I certainly was not hungry. Several people made comments like, “I’m SO hungry. I can’t WAIT to eat!”
Oh, no! HOW did I mess up on the information, but this was a DINNER MEETING?!
We were all directed to the small fellowship hall where tables were nicely set and salads and rolls were at each table. It was the kind of thing where people from the church had made the meal and not to eat it would be really rude. But I concluded that throwing up all over my table would have been ruder. I struggled to eat my salad and one roll, but that was it. I explained that I did not understand that it was a dinner and that I was full. I did feel a little better that one pastor at the table said to me, “I didn’t know it was a dinner, either. If I hadn’t have called the church today, I would never have known.” (Boy, I wish I’D have called!) At our table was the church worship leader who’d make apple crisp for dessert (smothered in vanilla ice cream). I considered trying it, but I was still so full that I declined. I got the feeling she wasn’treal happy with me eating nothing but my salad and a roll, but what do you do in a situation like that?!
I remember about seventeen years ago that a woman had invited a bunch of people over to her home in Millis for “dinner”. I had eaten nothing all day. When Mary Ann and I got there, the woman served us cheese and crackers. One guy leaned over to me and (sarcastically) said, “This is all there is, you know- just crackers and cheese!” I quickly discovered it was NOT a joke. Each person there awkwardly said they’d expected a dinner. The woman ended up sending out for pizza. That was an embarrassing experience to the other extreme!
I could probably write 27 postings about other embarrassing eating situations...such things as someone serving you their favorite delicacy, and you’re wondering how you’re possibly going to get such horrible food down...or liberally sprinkling what you thought was shredded cheddar cheese on your meal, only to find out it was CURRIED COCONUT. And, speaking of coconut, there was the time I tried to eat what I thought was a coconut ice cream dessert which turned out to be a moist washcloth!
Anyway, what would YOU have done last night? Was I rude to not eat most of the food?
I had kind of an embarrassing experience last night that I’ll call “The Eating Thing”. We had an Assemblies of God meeting (primarily for pastors and their spouses) in Marlboro. (Our church is in the “Central Massachusetts Section” of the Southern New England District- this was a Sectional meeting.) The meeting began at 7. Typically, evening Sectional meetings will consist of some singing and worship, announcements, a special speaker, and a fellowship time featuring coffee, soda, water, and refreshments such as brownies, cookies, crackers and cheese, a vegetable tray...stuff like that.
The only ones home for supper last night were my 24-year-old son Jon and me. I grilled a couple of burgers and made a box of macaroni and cheese. I also drank a big mug of coffee after supper. I was SO full after supper that I had that “too full” feeling you can get. I actually took a brisk fifteen minute walk to kind of help me with digestion, and just so I wouldn’t feel so bloated and overstuffed. When I arrived at the 7:00 meeting (just about on time) I certainly was not hungry. Several people made comments like, “I’m SO hungry. I can’t WAIT to eat!”
Oh, no! HOW did I mess up on the information, but this was a DINNER MEETING?!
We were all directed to the small fellowship hall where tables were nicely set and salads and rolls were at each table. It was the kind of thing where people from the church had made the meal and not to eat it would be really rude. But I concluded that throwing up all over my table would have been ruder. I struggled to eat my salad and one roll, but that was it. I explained that I did not understand that it was a dinner and that I was full. I did feel a little better that one pastor at the table said to me, “I didn’t know it was a dinner, either. If I hadn’t have called the church today, I would never have known.” (Boy, I wish I’D have called!) At our table was the church worship leader who’d make apple crisp for dessert (smothered in vanilla ice cream). I considered trying it, but I was still so full that I declined. I got the feeling she wasn’treal happy with me eating nothing but my salad and a roll, but what do you do in a situation like that?!
I remember about seventeen years ago that a woman had invited a bunch of people over to her home in Millis for “dinner”. I had eaten nothing all day. When Mary Ann and I got there, the woman served us cheese and crackers. One guy leaned over to me and (sarcastically) said, “This is all there is, you know- just crackers and cheese!” I quickly discovered it was NOT a joke. Each person there awkwardly said they’d expected a dinner. The woman ended up sending out for pizza. That was an embarrassing experience to the other extreme!
I could probably write 27 postings about other embarrassing eating situations...such things as someone serving you their favorite delicacy, and you’re wondering how you’re possibly going to get such horrible food down...or liberally sprinkling what you thought was shredded cheddar cheese on your meal, only to find out it was CURRIED COCONUT. And, speaking of coconut, there was the time I tried to eat what I thought was a coconut ice cream dessert which turned out to be a moist washcloth!
Anyway, what would YOU have done last night? Was I rude to not eat most of the food?
2 comments:
first of all, trying to eat a washcloth is one of the funniest things I've ever heard...
But also, I have to deal with how to politely not eat stuff all the time, but not cuz I'm full, but cuz I don't like anything. It can be difficult, but what can you do?
If you really can't eat anything else, better to say you're sorry but you're stuffed then try to force it down and end up getting fat. I suppose you could've had a few bites of each dish so that it looks like you ate some of it (I'm a master at making it look like I ate more than I really did), but sometimes people are gonna be upset and if your explanation isn't good enough for them, then there's nothing you can do.
Sometimes you just don't wanna hurt people's feelings... I know if I were at that person's house, I would've eating a bazillion cheez and crackers and not want to say I thought you were making a dinner (not unless I really knew the person).
Food can be tricky. These things happen... what can you do? ...how come I never knew coconut washcloth story? That's wicked funny... I'm gonna serve you a washcloth desert sometime... you'll never see it coming...
i can't believe rach never knew the coconut washcloth story!
I get way too full way too fast, after hardly eating anything, so I too have mastered the art of telling people, "No thank you, I'm full."
Post a Comment