Wednesday, December 01, 2021

Graham goes out to lunch

Graham's high school has allowed students to start going out to lunch again, an opening in policy as we muddle forward in the age of COVID, surely a component of its new pro mental health program. Graham is embracing it vigorously. He went to the Pig two days in a row (on Tuesday because Deli Edison was closed) and is going to Deli Edison today. He is eating a lot of pork.

A little background is in order. For starters, Graham is rich. He has been earning allowance and also birthday and Xmas money here and there his whole life, plus he worked some at the lake over the summer. So he has money, but in some ways little appreciation for it because it has never been scarce for him.

What's more, he is skinny. At 5'9", he weighs a mighty 109 lbs. He was a little surprised that he didn't gain more weight over Thanksgiving, given how much stuffing he ate. Part of the problem is that he has internalized his mother's disciplined reading of nutrition labels and serving sizes over the years. For example, if we are low on dessert and he decides to hit the bag of chocolate chips for dessert, he will read the serving size (15 chips, for instance) and count out that many for himself. Which is a little silly from the perspective of his present size, though it may prove a good habit in the future.

It's also great that he is getting out and transacting with the world more. These forays to eateries are on top of the time he's spending at Triangle Chess on weekends, playing games with strangers for hours wearing a mask.

So it's all good. He can eat a lot of lunches before he gets low on cash and/or heavy. I do need to get him back to building muscle (raking leaves, for instance).

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