GROUP NIGHT

GROUP NIGHT Tonight is our weekly meeting of the stomachs. It's Wednesday night and our bellies are crying out awaiting 6 pm. We want food, we want food. I can hear the bubbling going on in everyone's belly. It's not like we don't eat regularly. It's just that Wednesday night is special. It's a get together, to trade stories of what was said at the pan or mahjong games, to scream at each other across the table due to the ambient noise in the restaurant but probably because most of us have a hard time hearing and lip reading was never learned. Most of us see each other at least once or twice during the week but Wednesday night is like Club Night. It's the In place to be. Major decisions must be made, do I sit next to my wife or across from her. Do I sit with the guys so we can commiserate about The Royals or The Chiefs or just sit somewhere in the middle so I can participate in all conversations. Sitting in the middle also allows me to mingle with both sexes. I can see who is ordering what and who eats everything on their plate as we were instructed to do as children. "The people in Europe are starving" is something we all heard from our parents whenever any food was left on our plates. So here I sit on Wednesday night with my eagle eye (the good one) watching my friends as they fill their boxes to go for the next days lunch. I do the same but I usually dump the leftovers because I forget that I put it in the fridge. In trying to maintain or lose some weight I usually will eat just half of my meal. I was told that by doing this I will satisfy my taste buds and lose weight. I think my stomach has actually shrunk, I get full much faster. I'm sure it's more in my mind than in my stomach but I am satisfied eating less (much to my wife's disdain). She threatens me with closing our kitchen if I don't stop it. I also think my taste buds have changed. Food that I once devoured doesn't taste good anymore, this too I'm sure is all in my mind. However, if the meal is really good, I clean the plate, which brings a smile to her beautiful punum. I told her I would stop talking about how much I'm going to eat and just keep it to myself. So, both of you that read this, keep it to yourself.