My friend's five-year-old daughter worships me. It's adorable. Eight years from now I'll be just another old fogey (or whatever word the kids will be using) who makes her roll her angst-ridden eyes but, for now, she sits on my lap, plays with my hair and, when the mood strikes, draws me an "I Love Traci" picture.
In her last masterpiece, she drew a picture of us going out for ice cream. I was impressed by the precision of her execution: my hair was the right color, my bangs were above my eyes and my boots had the right size heel.
More importantly, when it came to the ice cream itself, she made sure it was a flavor I could eat.
You see, my little friend is also obsessed with my
GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease).
After I was diagnosed in 2006, I quickly discovered that there are certain foods a person with GERD must simply avoid. They're called trigger foods and by "trigger foods" they don't mean horse meat.
The list of food I cannot eat contains all kinds of tasty goodness: Chocolate, coffee, cola or tea, alcohol, citrus juices, tomato-based foods, spicy foods, fried foods, fatty foods and mint-flavored items.
Yup, all the great stuff. I now eat cheese like my life depends on it.
My pre-school devotee likes to rattle off the list when I'm over her house for dinner. For some reason, she's particularly focused on the tomatoes. But she's also painfully aware that I can no longer consume chocolate. That's why she wanted to know what flavor of ice cream I could eat. She didn't want the fake stomach of my cartoon likeness to feel any discomfort.
GERD may be bad for the esophagus, but an oh-so-cute kindergartener who is concerned about my well-being is good for the heart.
For GERD Girl Guide 1, click here.
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2 comments:
Her not pre-school. Her in school.
Finally, I know the identity of an anonymous poster! Luckily, she's too young to read my blog so she won't know that she's been dissed. In my world, school starts in first grade. Everything else is just practice. (Don't tell her what I said!)
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