Deanna (cooking meat for my Dad)

[Guest guest]

My father died almost two years ago at age 91. For the last five

years of his life I had cooked the Thanksgiving dinner, including the

turkey, because, my mother who has dementia, insisted that they cooked

the dinner. My mother's dementia made it so that she could not

understand how frail my father was. And, she was not competent to

cook the dinner, but thought that she could [dementia talking again].

I, the 25+ year vegetarian, agreed to cook the Thanksgiving dinner

because my father needed me to do it so he did not have to cook it.

 

My father died in March 2005. So, Thanksgiving 2005 I took my mother

out for Thanksgiving dinner. I refused to cook another turkey--each

year when I finished cooking the dinner--I was hungry. It was such a

huge job cooking that turkey, there was no time to fix a main dish for

myself. We went to the Red Lion last year for their buffet--I had

called ahead and they assured me that I could order off the menu [all

I wanted was a veggie burger]. The only thing they would fix for me

was a salad. I am on a low fat diet and their vegetarian entrees are

very high fat, so I went home hungry again. This year, I made a

special visit to the Red Lion to find out the status of the situation.

Yes, I can have a salad, but nothing else until 8:00 PM. My mother

is 89 years old so eating that late is not an option.

 

I will eat before I got out for my salad. My husband will take me out

the next night for my real Thanksgiving dinner at the local Chinese

restaurant for a real dinner of tofu & veggies.

 

We vegetarians have a lot of responsibilities.

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Kathleen

 

 

> Yep, exactly, LOL. He's 75 years old and I figure he's old enough

to make his own choices, he doesn't need me playing food police, LOL.

I do make sure he

> eats right, but if he wants the meat, I can't tell him no. It's his

home,

> not mine, therefore I can eat how I want but I can't tell him how to

eat or

> what to do. He's made it this long and I respect him and and, as you

said, grant

> him the dignity he deserves.