I’m not much of a drinker.  Never have been.  It’s not that I am opposed to drinking- I just really never have liked the taste of alcohol or the way it makes me feel the next day.  Eating, however, is an entirely different matter.  I grew up loving to eat, and I was hungry a lot from years of swim team practice and lots of playing outside in the neighborhood.  There’s nothing like a marathon game of kick-the-can (capture-the-flag these days) to stimulate an appetite.  I love to eat so much that a friend’s father still calls me “that girl who loves to eat.”  Pot luck dinners, holiday feasts, dinner out with friends, a meal around the family dinner table- I like it all.  I’ve heard that there are some people who can take it or leave it when it comes to food.  Strange.

Because of this trend, I’ve experienced I few “food hangovers” in my day.  Some of you may know this very feeling, the one that comes over you almost immediately after you have sampled too many desserts.  It begins with the thought “I’ve gone too far.”  Then it grows to “I better go lay down.” (the Southern form of the expression).  Then, well….you know.  The next day, a general sense of malaise sticks with you for about 6-12 hours.  You vow to never indulge like that again, but we all know that promises are hard to keep.

Lately, I’ve been experiencing another type of food hangover.  This one has come from doing too much feasting at what I call The Catholic Banquet Table.  I’m finding that becoming Catholic is like being hungry and then entering a huge banquet hall full of every kind of food you can imagine.  Not only do I not know where to start, but I have the real possibility of over-doing it, and over-doing it quickly.  I’ve become part of a family that has a 2000 year history filled with people, places, art, tradition,  and events that I want to experience, and there just doesn’t seem to be enough time to pack it all in.  Although no one is going to put the food up, so to speak, I find myself acting like a teenager who stands at a buffet table cramming in food, with no time to talk to anyone else.  There is so much to read, so many “relatives” (saints both living and dead) to get to know, so many places to visit, lectures to attend.  I could and will spend the rest of my life learning about Christ and this one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

All this feasting does cause me to crash and burn sometimes.  After days of study, reviewing Catholic websites, trying to keep up with the universal readings for the day, or attending a book signing or movie preview, the feeling of “I’ve gone too far” begins to creep in.  Sometimes, I even have to go lay down so I’ll have enough energy to get dinner on the table for my family (oh yeah, forgot about them).  It’s a Catholic food hangover, but just like forgetting the pain of childbirth, I am soon back at the banquet table, feasting again.

Chick “B”