Wet Nap Anyone?

Each night, when I crawl into bed, my dog goes to the dining room and eats. He snarfs his entire bowl of food, drinks a gallon of water and then comes to bed. He won’t eat when I’m not home and only indulges when he is certain I will be home for awhile. My vet says it’s common in pets. It’s an abandonment issue. They want to make sure you are there and not going anywhere before they feel safe enough to go about the regular things in life like eating. My dog and I have a lot in common. I will not eat wings on a first date. He might take me to the coolest sports bar for the game of the year and we might have incredible conversation but I will not eat wings. They are too messy. I’d have to eat with my hands and lick the sauce off my fingers. I’d try too hard to balance eating the wings without sticking the whole thing in my mouth to get every morsel. It’s too intimate. It’s too delicate. It leaves me feeling too vulnerable. He might think I’m too girlie if I eat them too neatly. He might think I’m gross if I eat them like the boys. I love to eat with my hands. I love meals where the table is full of people and full of dishes and everyone reaches and passes and indulges until they ache. Fajitas is one of my favorite family meals. I love everyone sitting around together, casually creating their own perfect bite, reaching across, over, dipping, spreading, saucing… and then eating with their hands. I tend to talk with my hands and on fajita night, that means with food in tow. I’m not the right ethnicity to fold a fajita correctly so once I pick it up, there is NO setting it down. That means I will gesticulate with grilled chicken and salsa along for the ride. Fajita night is not for date night. If a date is successful enough to be invited over for dinner it will not be fajitas. It’s familiar, and it takes me a long while to feel comfortable enough to eat with such casualness in front of someone I’m trying to impress. Dripping sour cream and salsa from a tight grip on a tortilla is not attractive early on in a relationship. It is safe to say that I will sleep with someone before I will eat messy food with them. It just feels like a similar vulnerability. I suppose it is safe to say that if someone makes it to the point where I share hot wings during the game, or cook them up fajitas and margaritas that they should sincerely feel privileged and know that our relationship has reached the next level. It took my dog 2 years to be able to eat when I wasn’t home. I hope it doesn’t take that long to reach a similar point in my relationships. I look forward to the day when the table is again full of people, full of food and when I sit with rice on my cheek and salsa dripping from my hand, I hope he looks across the table and winks a knowing wink at me knowing how special I think he is.