It’s funny how when you start a new creative endeavor, you feel a lot of pressure. Maybe it’s just me, but I always have that sense of pressure, like people are waiting, and that I must perform according to what I said I was going to do, or I will be failing.

But I suspect the reality is that there’s no such pressure. No one is waiting with bated breath for the pearls of wisdom that will flow from my fingers through this keyboard into this computer to be “uploaded.”

As I alluded to before, I’m not sure about the direction to take my own posts, or, to be honest, the necessity of this blog. Our Vegan Odyssey sounds so big and important, and like I mentioned, I just want to live.

Here’s how I’ve been living as a non-ovo/non-lacto vegetarian:

     I have to be careful on errand days because it’s not easy to find something to eat after we’ve been out for hours and we still have more errands to do. There’s no good vegan quick snack/drive-through/restaurant choices. Oh, the reason I have to be careful is that I become an insane crabmonster if I get too hungry. So, yes, planning ahead is critical. Since we’re doing some exercising at the beginning of errands, we are trying to get into the habit of bringing nuts in the car. That’s a good food to eat after exercise, and it’s enough calories etc to hold me over until we get done with errands. That, and our errands usually (for some reason ;) ) put us in the position to buy these. Srsly good.

None of the above was any different when I was eating animals (I have always become an insane crabmonster if I go too long without eating), except that back then I could get a Wendy’s Double Stack or a bag of Cheetos from the gas station and think I was feeding myself.

     Our church is starting some Lenten Small Groups. Since I love our church and I love small groups, I’m very excited about this prospect. But when Pastor Judy announced the groups, she talked about how the groups would include a meal of a “simple soup.” She proposed (and wisely so, in my opinion) that people might be more likely to come if there’s food. For a nonvegan me, that prospect raises no concerns whatsoever. But for me now, I have to speak up and ask her for something. I have to ask that even the concept of vegan soups be considered in this endeavor. And that’s not an easy thing to ask. I don’t want to make “special” requests in a situation like this! But I have to speak up, right?

     Valentine’s Day is this weekend. Here’s something brief I wrote about VDay back in aught-six. So Pants and I are trying to figure out what to do, and, frankly, I think it’s up to him. But guess what….where we spend the day and evening is influenced by whether we think we’ll be able to find something decent to eat for lunch or dinner. From now on until forever, this will be a consideration when we make plans. Makes spontaneity kind of difficult.

All this means this: I’m not changing back. I don’t regret my choices for even one second. My reasons and reality outweigh (by a huge proportion) my inconvenience. But I can’t help constantly wishing the world was more friendly to this choice. And I can’t help praying for the day it will be. I don’t care if it’s Vatmeat, the Pills of Nutritional Completeness, or something that we haven’t even conceived of yet. I just wish there was as little suffering as possible caused by humanity vis-a-vis diet. I’m not starry-eyed, I know that even plant agriculture causes suffering. But I truly believe the world could thrive on a plant-based diet, and I wish I could see that in my lifetime.