Embarrassment

It was Sunday morning and we were eating breakfast. There was nothing unusual about that until I created a scene or was it a mess? I have been using chopsticks for over six years and find them easy to use. I can take two peanuts side by side and pick them up and get them into my mouth. That took some practice. When you have bigger pieces to eat you can sometimes reverse your chopstick motion and instead of squeezing you separate and try to divide your bigger piece. Sometimes it is simply easier to pick the whole chunk up and bite off a piece. I have done that with fried eggs and other things that size.

This morning we had a bowl of ground seeds that makes a light grey soup like split pea soup. By itself it is kind of bland so we always eat it with something else that is kind of solid with flavor. This morning something was made up from a batter mix and some veggies, broken up in very large bite size pieces, and then placed on a plate in the center of the table. You have your chopsticks in your right hand and a soup spoon in your left hand; it’s much more efficient that way. As soon as the soup is cool enough, and the bowl about half empty, you put the spoon down and drink from the bowl. It works for me.

This morning I was still in chopstick and spoon mode and reached for some food in the center of the table and headed toward my mouth with it. I have no idea what happened, but as I neared my mouth there was only chopsticks and, yes, you guessed it, the piece of solid food went into the bowl of soup at such an angle that it splashed a great quantity onto the table in front of me and into my lap, onto the chair between my legs and onto the floor. This was bad enough to require getting the mop out. You would think I was some small kid just learning to eat.

We cleaned up the mess and went on eating after a good laugh and finished breakfast as though nothing unusual had happened. Maybe that was not a good choice of words as you might get the wrong impression of my chopstick ability. You know, I love having a good time with people even if it is at my expense.