Feeding the Hungry (and Allergic)

I’ve had customers at my job eat peanuts in front of me and then complain to HR when I politely excused myself. I’ve had a close relative serve me tree nuts on my birthday–twice. As someone with a life-threatening allergy, I openly admit that Franciscan Mom’s compassion in this piece brought me to tears. I so often face near-mortal indifference to my allergy that when someone puts compassion for this situation into words, it means a lot. Thank you, Franciscan Mom.

FranciscanMom

To the mom who was so apologetic about mentioning her daughter’s dairy allergy to me at dinner the other day:

Do not feel as if it is an imposition on me to tell me what I need to know in order to safely feed your daughter.

With a bit of advance notice and an opportunity to bounce ideas around with you, I can come up with safe alternatives. I don’t want you to have to feel like you need to send “special food” with her wherever she goes. (Or, at the very least, when she comes to dinner with us.)

It is both a corporal AND spiritual work of mercy to honor someone’s medical dietary needs.

The corporal part is obvious. I think the spiritual part falls under the category of “comforting the sorrowful.”

When your child has special dietary needs, it’s tough on parents. By comparison, I have it…

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