Good old veggie burgers

Today I just finished eating my lunch. I had an egg salad sandwich and a bowl of vegetable soup. That, for some odd reason got me to thinking about, 30 years ago, when I became a vegetarian. Yes, it will be 32 years, this coming January, when I stopped eating meat... cow, fish, chicken, horse, etc., etc.

That only lasted 10 years, though. Now, I eat chicken and fish, but I can really enjoy a meal of nothing but vegetables. Like last night, I had rice with peas, corn and carrots, and it was great. I looked in the freezer and all I have a super-sized bag of chicken breasts. I will get around to them one of these days.

I guess I may or may not go back to being a total vegetarian, one of these days. I really felt better, looked better, but I guess I was a lot younger then, also. No, I don't miss eating Big Mac's and such or hot dogs. But, I do remember, way back when, that I had dreams of eating meats and burgers. And I really loved hot dogs!

Now I eat veggie dogs or turkey dogs when I find em. I do have a pack in the fridge now. I didn't give up eating meat to “save the whales” or cows, or anything like that. I say do what you want to do but don't push your dogma on me. There were two reasons why I gave up eating meat, either one is legit, sort of.

The first reason, is kind of iffy, of sorts. I knew my younger brother was on some kind of kick like that. Into meditation, and stuff like that. And I kind of sort of followed him to that door. In other words I was headed in that direction, a vegetarian. Just a little later I met this guy at the gym and we kind of hit it off, as friends.

He told me, one day, that I had a very good aura. A little later he told me that he was in to all kinds of meditations and wanted to teach me those ways. One of them included going meatless. I remember going to a friend’s house, right after Christmas, to watch the football game. That night I we went to McDonald and I ordered two big Mac's, a large box of fries, two cherry pies, and a large strawberry milkshake.

January 1^st, 1979, I started fasting. I had read a lot about it and instead of only going a few day, or a week or for that matter, two week, I fasted for 30 days. I really felt great after that. And I stayed in the gym. Around March I was weighting in at about 155 pounds. And I was bench pressing about 300 pounds! Then, I really got into me. In fact there were calling me “cookie monster”, because I would always go to the health food store, across the street from the gym and get those big organic cookies.

Now, the second reason, which happened several months before I became a vegetarian happened at an old high school friends, aunt's house. I was invited to a card game. They were playing pinochle, which I didn't know, at the time, how to play so I just watched. As I watched I was offered something to eat.

Whatever it was it was great. It was a red meat, with sweet potatoes, greens and cornbread. I didn't think much about the meat, because it was very tasty, I guess cooked with the sweet potatoes. I only noticed the dark red color.

I finished the plate and was asked if I wanted some more. My friend’s aunt said that if I wanted more I would have to go and get it for myself. I went into the kitchen and lifted the lid off of a very large pot, the kind you put a turkey in for thanksgiving.

What startled me, well...inside the pot was a body! I thought it was a baby, at first. But, it had little clawed hands, balled up and both its hands and feet where sticking up, like you see those dead animals in cartoons. Only this animal had no head and its ribs were showing and, and...

My friend's aunt asked me what the problem was, because I was standing so long with the pots lid in my hand. I just asked, “What is that?!” She said it was Possum. I just nodded and put the lid back on the pot and I remember saying my goodbyes and going home.

I guess that is what leads up to my deciding to go for all veggies, at the time. Now that I think about it, it probably was shorter than 10 years, because I got married in 1980 and I know that well after, I would have to say, about 1985 or so, I started eating chicken and fish. That was because my, wife, back then, loved to cook and I guess she got tired of cooking veggies for only me.

I know my mother, during special occasions, and or Thanksgiving or when I came over for dinner, would make a veggie only meal for me. She probably was the only one who respected me being a vegetarian.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking with it. I may or may not give up eating chicken or fish. A lot of times I don't have the taste for it and may just eat a PB&J sandwich, with beer and be satisfied. Oh well...