Grandpa

We just finished up a wonderful visit with my Dad and Colson’s Grandpa. Nothing gets Colson going like a visit from his Grandpa.

Those two were up to nothing but trouble – losing golf balls and a golf club at putt-putt golf, playing laser tag and eating ice cream (without corn syrup or wheat). And Grandpa gets the award of the decade for taking Colson to Johnny English Reborn, an awful movie, and sitting through the whole thing without complaint. As always, it was a fun few days and they went far too quickly.

With Grandpa here we deviated from the Whole 30 a bit, but not too much. Grandpa actually moved over to our side, eating Gruel, raw apple pie (see Oh What a Food Season (time for pumpkin and apple desserts)!) and nothing processed when we were at home. He liked the Gruel better than his usual oatmeal and really enjoyed the pie.

My Dad is diabetic, and while he was here those few short days, his blood sugar continuously improved even though he ate bread at restaurants twice, a scoop of ice cream and drank a diet Coke. As quickly as he responds to the food he eats when visiting us, I can almost guarantee that if he ate what I fed him for a month his blood sugar would normalize, he wouldn’t need his medication and he would enjoy every bite. Maybe some day.

Speaking of bread, Colson and Ryan had bread twice at the restaurants too. If you have been following our journey, you know that wheat is just evil for those two (see Wheat – Cut that Shit Out! among many other posts). The power of society and hanging out with Grandpa at a restaurant is, well, powerful, and those guys made a decision to eat hamburger buns. They each took a dose GlutenFlam (see Whole 30 Update) and the wheat didn’t seem to affect Colson at all and it minimally affected Ryan.

Finally, those were the first hamburgers those guys ate at a restaurant in a couple of years. If you search my blog for hamburger you will see that hamburger is one of the most frightening foods at restaurants and grocery stores. The two restaurants where they ate theirs served only local, North Carolina grass fed, hormone-free, antibiotic-free burgers and the meat was ground in-house. That is the only way we will eat burger that doesn’t come from the quarter cow that we purchase twice a year (see “Little Bit” – My Fall Beef).

My Dad has about seven hours to go on his ride home. As always, I cry when he leaves and I miss him a lot. I moved away from home 24 years ago, and you would think I would be over it by now, but I am glad I am not. I cherish that Attachment, but life keeps moving on. It is time to get ready for teaching about Delight at the Kadampa Center this morning and preparing for the crazy eight year old kid Halloween Party this afternoon.