Meat and Potatoes=LOVE

OK so I am struggling; I am a huge animal advocate-enough so that I have researched products that have treated products on animals and it sickens me. It is a topic that people wish to pass over and act like doesn't happen and we all know that it does in fact exist. There are many labels we use everyday that condemn these poor, defenseless, and voiceless animals to their deaths. I know it is a fact and I have seen the evidence.

I am the type of person, like so many, that think since I am a meat eater (cows, etc.) that these animals are treated more "humane". I know that this isn't the case but I kidd myself, because it's easier to turn a blind eye. I am not trying to start a revolution, but if I know anything, I know myself. And above an elderly person, there is nothing more than I love than an animal. And to know that I feel this way and can contribute to their demise, whether by beauty product or steak I pick, is does sicken me.

I struggle.

The only reason I haven't been able to give it up yet is my granny's steak fingers and mashed potatoes. I am not making excuses, and I am not blaming my up bringing. It is what it is. The fact remains that memories I have from this meal, with the ones I love, means more to me than you can imagine. It's the love that I taste in every bite, of the gravy, the steak, the potatoes and then the gravy with bread. It is my granny standing in her kitchen preparing every detail with love, and my papa sitting on the stool next to the phone talking to me about the time he picked me up at school in Claremore and brought me back to this "home" away from home and we had this same meal time and time again, why? Because I loved it and they loved that I loved it-it made memories more than anyone could know.

I had this meal with granny the last time I was "home", and even though the love hadn't changed, the meal tasted different. Because he wasn't sitting across from me, saying "Baby how was your week, I know you are busy and we miss you-you work hard baby doll but do you remember when....." and what I want to say, that I never said-is that I remember. I remember every moment with you, every smell, every story, every talk, every steak......

I am a meat and potatoes kind of girl, I don't approve of cruelty to animals anymore than I approve of cruelty to seniors. It doesn't mean it doesn't happen, it just means that for me the two mean something combined. I hope the cows can forgive me....