So... anyways... back to the festival... I mean seriously... ice cream and food trucks - was there ever a question? Mr. Cheerful cinched up the deal when we were talking about that we'd want to do off times for the food trucks because we'd have to ask about ingredients and he said
"just because I have an allergy shouldn't mean that I don't get to do food trucks".BAM! What an awful mom I have been - this one simple statement made me realize that I rave on and on and on about food trucks but have never taken him to one. Why haven't I taken him to one? Welcome to the world of being an allergy mom... if my child eats annatto, a natural colorant - his lips swell up exponentially and the potential that I will have to epi him is increased every time he has a reaction. Since he's already been epi'd and rushed to the ER, it isn't something I want to see as 'worse' next time. My diligence since we were finally able to identify what the allergen was (the aforementioned evil natural colorant annatto), he has not had a single re-occurrence. Thankfully - as Mr. Happy had a couple of accidental ingestion episodes early on and last year at a large gathering picnic there was a miscommunication that resulted in Mr. Cheerful eating a dish that had been brought but not ingredient checked - fortunately it turned out there was no annatto in any of the components. But... back to over-diligence on my watch... I've dealt with the whole eating out-ingredient thing by calling in advance. I have Mr. Cheerful look at the menu to decide what he will want and then I call and ask about the components. When we aren't able to call in advance, we do the wait while the waitress checks on whatever it is that Mr. Cheerful wants (or might eat off someone else's plate) before we do any ordering. Makes eating out with other families, who don't understand, a total nightmare! Thankfully we've surrounded ourselves with compassionate and empathetic families so our friends seem to be pretty understanding - so far. Honestly, I can't imagine being friends with someone who was so self-absorbed that having to check a life-threatening allergy would be an issue though. But back to the original point of the blog... calling on a food truck in advance is a tad bit difficult as part of the joy in food trucks is that spontaneous decision on which one to eat at. I suppose that I could call all of them that I know will be at the event in advance - but really? That's a bit overboard and I'm not one of those kinda moms... The thing is though, me being diligent about all this has a boat load of anxiety attached. The what-ifs... what if they mess up on their ingredient check, what if he can't get what he wants then he's disappointed, what if we are putting someone out, what if there is a long line and people get frustrated waiting, what if, what if, what if! The one that really is the stress-er though is the accidental consumption. The fear of my child dying because someone made a mistake is awful. However, I know that I am naturally a doom see-er, so I try to not let it paralyze me. Ask Mr. Happy - a total worrier about stuff that will never happen is what he will tell you about me.
So... this bad mom is going to stuff her fear deep down inside and correct the sheltered youth that my child has lived by not eating at a food truck! He sounds sheltered and deprived, right? I can't imagine a kid going through life not eating at a food truck! So... we will look for off times when there is little to no line and then hope that the person in the truck is cool with checking on ingredients for us. So beware St. Paul Food Trucks - an allergy mom is headed your way!
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