Exciting Times!

There's something I'm super excited about :o)

Dadsy's party went well on the weekend (snide comments aside) and I was there for about 12 hours. There was not much drinking for me, largely due to a toga party 21st the night before that included an open bar, but there was the occassional cruiser or Moscato enjoyed by yours truly. There was substantially more drinking from others there including dadsy and one of dadsy's best friends (ever seen a 48 year old man roll out of his undies on a plastic lawn? No? Then you haven't lived).

Anyway, somewhere along the way it was picked up that dadsy was making the usual 'I won't drink much after this' 'I'm going to get fit and slim' 'I'm going to ride my bike to work' (now you know where I get it from!) and I decided to slip in the 'I'm going to be vegetarian'. On my way out the door I reminded him that he was going to stop eating meat and he started getting lyrical about how he hates the cruelty to these animals, how disgusting the live export trade is, how he could perhaps one day make a difference to that and how he remembers his great uncle having pigs that would just nuzzle up to you like a puppy. Before they ate them.

Monday night was dadsy's actual birthday, so the Monday night family tea was more of a special occassion - rather than going out to a restaraunt as planned, it was decided we would stay in and have leftovers and seafood. Because that's how special occassions are celebrated at the house. To say I was a little uncomfortable during the meal is an understatement - dadsy's best friend had returned with his wife for dinner, so there were 10 people around the table, 9 of which were peeling and ripping the heads off of prawns, slurping oyesters, and gouging at crabs with crab forks, spoons, fingers and lips. Whilst everyone kept proclaiming how fantastic it was, how good it tasted, and 'look at me make it move like it's still alive', dadsy was the only one who noticed the predicament for me and felt the need to apologise. Several times.

Don't get me wrong - it's not like I feel I should be owed an apology. I was THE biggest seafood eater, it was my FAVOURITE meal of all time. I'm not mad at them for eating animals, I see it all the time, I was the same way before. It's just that on this particular occassion there was nowhere else to look but down at my cold rice and pasta salad.

Yesterday at work I called dadsy at home - he'd taken some more leave around his birthday so he could relax - to check how Max the dog was doing. Poor thing has been extra mopey with nary a tailwag in sight for a little while now, plus he'd been diagnosed with a bronchial irritation AND he had fallen down the stairs twice in the last few days. I was glad to hear that Max had pepped up somewhat and I decided it would be a good time to stir dadsy about his vegetarianism - "Did you have meat for lunch?".

"No. I haven't had meat today or yesterday."

Stunned silence.
"Wow dad - that's awesome! You're vegetarian now!"

"No no, you know, just testing it out or whatever... not officially... we'll see..."
Cue change of topic on his behalf.

I sent him a message over Facebook last night (because that's how we roll) telling him that I was really proud of him. That it must have been hard for him but that I really respect his decision to do something about the suffering. He's already saved lives and he has already made a difference.
And then I went to bed.

I just think it is absolutely fantastic that someone like my dadsy - 50 years old, lover of expensive foods and animal flesh, born in rural Australia has decided to listen to his heart and make an active decision to make a difference.

I am so excited about this.