Chip Eater

During my final year of University, both my brother and I were living with my grandma.  I was kind of living there on a part time basis, driving to and from my parents, and my brother was there full time.  After my first degree, it was deemed that my time was up, and my brother got the basement suite I had been living in.

Anyway,  one evening, my brother, my grandma and I were sitting around watching TV.  This was a pretty standard evening.  Out of the blue, my grandma says, "Stephanie ... there are two types of people in the world."  My heart catches a little bit, because it's usually this kind of opener that leads to a slightly - if not significantly - racist remark, but give her a break, she's elderly and has been through a lot.  (Though I do often end up yelling at some most of her remarks).

Then this happens: "There are two types of people in the world ... tea drinkers and chip eaters.  Dan and I are tea drinkers, but you Stephanie ... are a chip eater."

I should mention that I was NOT eating chips at the time.

At the time that this conversation took place, it seemed like one of those "grandma" moments, but looking back I see a lot of wisdom in the comment.  My brother, tea drinker, didn't eat chips - he was on the University soccer team (starting goalie - so proud!),  totally fit, exceptional grades (now in medical school).  My grandma - though not in her healthy weight range - eats mostly healthy things, she does love pizza .. and butter.  And while both of them do eat chips on occasion, it's rarely a whole bag at once. 

It's four years later (approximately - counting is hard) and this conversation still resonates with me.  I AM a chip eater!  I love them.  I love a lot of crunchy things that are terrible for me, but chips top the list.  BBQ especially.  But not this new age mesquite bbq business, I like the old school flavor that is now only found in the boxed version of Old Dutch.

We're veering off topic and I might be drooling a bit - With Allan's Challenge, and my previous attempts to lose weight, I have, obviously, given up my chip eating ways.  Tonight I thought, if I'm no longer a chip eater, maybe I can be a tea drinker?


One of my University habits (along with daily exercise) was a cup of Sleepy Time with a tiny bit of maple syrup (invented when I ran out of honey) - but this only lasted a couple years, and was early in my first degree, before my full fledged chip eater days.  Anyway, tonight I decided to revive my tea drinking days, with half a teaspoon honey (30 cals - not sure it was worth it to be honest, but maybe I just didn't steep enough).

So here I am ... Stephanie - Former Chip Eater --->  Current Tea Drinker