Restaurant Addiction

Yesterday, it was suggested to me that I explain the monthly totals under the “Restaurants on Our Road” section of Gooseberry Lane, so here it goes.

Very early in our almost 21-year marriage, we began eating out when my husband would come home from sea. He had been sequestered in a submarine, eating only galley food, separated from the life of the shore community. I had been home alone. It was a treat for both of us to get out on the town. Eventually, it became a treat and a habit.

After purchasing our home, having our daughter, and entering our clutter-growth stage of life (see Blogging for Accountability), eating out became a way to avoid sorting out the layers of paperwork, magazines, and books that regularly accumulated on the kitchen table. It also became a way to “trap” my husband at the dinner table.

Growing up in a traditional family in Minnesota, I sat down to dinner with my parents and sister almost every night. It was the social event of the day, a time when the family came together to reconnect and touch base. Even with the insanely busy schedule of two children involved in no less than 4-5 school/community activities each, and one shared car, my mother still managed to get us seated together for dinner. For me, this practice forever connected dining and discussion.

My husband, on the other hand, never developed this food-socialization link. To him, food was (and is) practical. You fixed dinner; you ate dinner; you moved along with your evening. The conversation element wasn’t really important. If it happened, ok. If not, whatever. Consequently, if we ate at home, he would quickly mop up his vittles and disappear. I came to realize that if I held him captive at a restaurant table, I could converse with him. The entire family, in fact, could converse with him. Treat and habit became a useful tool.

And so it continued. For oh these many years, and for oh these many reasons, we have frequented our local eateries with what could only be called abandon. It is now, without a doubt, a cost that needs to be controlled! After several failed attempts at behavior modification over the course of several years, using several different methods, our current strategy is to post our restaurant expenditures in a public forum, so that we may be held accountable not only to ourselves, but to our fellowship of friends and the community wherein we could contribute our misspent resources.

…but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. --- 1 John 1:7-9 NASB