Little Vegetarian

Yesterday I had the opportunity to take Emma and Landon to see "Earth". It was beautiful, majestic, amazing and also a little sad. At one point I turned to Emma to catch a tear running down her cheek as she watched a predator do what it does; hunt for prey. It was an opportunity for me to tell her about the circle of life, and the necessity of an animals instinct to hunt. On the other hand, I understood the raw emotion because I am an avid animal lover too and my heart was hurting as well. I would be lying if I said I did not have a lump in my throat. We held hands and got through the hard parts. Fortunately, they weren't very graphic, but you knew what the outcome was. At one point our hearts hurt for the predator, and if you have the opportunity to watch the movie, you will see what I mean.

My little, barely 9 year old Emma loves meat more then I can tell you. She can chow down a steak or gobble up three or four pieces of chicken in record speed. I used to do the same when I was her age. I still love a good steak every now and again. But something changed in her yesterday and she decided she was no longer a meat eater, but a Vegetarian. I commend her for standing up for something that she feels so strongly about. We need that kind of strength to get through life. We need to be able to do the admirable thing, the right thing, and the hard thing.

Once a week the kids are allowed to order hot lunch at school. Since it is a pre-order, her hot lunch happened to be today and the main course was a corn dog. "But I can't have a corn dog Mommy, it has meat in it."

"Well Honey, I guess you can go make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for yourself." And so she did. Her carnivorous sister took her hot lunch and Emma made a sandwich. I am proud of her.

I don't know how long being a Vegetarian will last. After all, chicken is a big part of our diet. But I support her, and will help her every step of the way. Good job sweet Em, I am proud of you for standing up for what you believe in, but if bacon calls your name the next time we are having it for breakfast, I will understand and support that too.

Michelle