In praise of food.

I was starving the other day. Not real starving, mind you. I've always been lucky in that regard. I'm talking about sudden, ravenous, "Gimme that cracker or I'll throttle you with my yarn" kind of starving. The kind of hunger that drops on you like a bomb, driving away all coherent thought and reducing sentience to a single, driving impulse to find FOOD.

I was that kind of starving.

We were about ten miles from home, on that stretch of Interstate that has nothing but offramps to small towns with no food, when The Hungries hit. That weird buzzing blankness settled in my forehead and my hands started to shake.

"I'm hungry. I'm hungry right now."

Himself knows that tone. He also knows those words and what will happen if he fails to heed them. If The Hungries are allowed to continue their rampage, I will begin sweating and swearing as my blood sugar drops into the basement, and life will be made miserable for all concerned. He stepped on the gas.

We arrived in the driveway not a moment too soon. Himself urged me into the house. "I'll get Baby, you go eat!" Staring vacantly at my shoes, I trotted up to the porch and through the door. With swift, practiced movements, I yanked open the fridge door and grabbed the first things to hand: a bag of radishes and a sack of cherries.

I ate everything but stems, seeds, and plastic before preparing and consuming two burritos and a pot of coffee. Himself settled Junior in his crib with some pear juice, then leaned against the dining room doorway to watch the consumption of mass quantities.

"You got that look on your face."

"Mrgph?"

"Like you should be wandering through the mall with a chainsaw!"

A large mouthful of burrito prevented me from offering my opinion of his observation. Having satisfied The Hungries, I leaned back in my chair and waited for the shakes to subside.

"Whew!"

"Better?"

"Yeah."

"Why don't you knit something? Baby's almost asleep."

A capital idea! I reached for the pink yarn and tiny needles, determined to finish the baby socks. Half an hour later, the last end was woven and the last yarn snippet was stowed. I am proud to say that the baby socks were delivered this morning and were received with many thanks and a big smile.

Now, if only I had remembered to take a picture...