Charm Citizen

Busy Weekend – As we barrel towards the end of summer, the weekends seem to be extra full of activity. Here is what our weekend looks like.

• Friday – Trip to the pool (might be one of the last times we can make it there this summer)
• Saturday – Workout at Orange Theory Fitness with a friend, nephew’s rescheduled graduation party
• Sunday – Rejoining my run club after a 3 weekend hiatus due to beach time, Hosting a cookout in our alley.
• Other – Farah wants me to bleach her hair at some point in preparation to dye it teal. I also have to clean my house and buy and prepare food for my guests.

Pool Guilt – I was feeling stressed out to find time to go to our pool this weekend since the are are only a couple of more weeks before or closes for the season. I usually feel a lot of conflict each year about whether we are using our membership enough to justify the cost, especially when we got to the beach a lot. The cost of a summer membership for a family of 5 , including parking fees, swim team dues for the kids, and an extra $50 charge for a 5th person, is around $1100. We also had to pay approximately $1500 has an initiation fee when we first joined a decade ago. Now that my kids are part of the swim team, it adds another level of involvement and calendar commitments during June and July, but I still feel guilt creeping in as August heads twisted September. This year feels a little odd too because we want to go to the beach again and likely won’t squeeze in a obligatory Labor Day weekend visit. These are definitely good problems to have but it does add to my mental clutter.

Vegan Belonging – I attended a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging session at work today at lunch time. While I was excited to participate, I was disappointed that there was not a single vegan option on the table. There were several salads available but they were all topped with meat. There were also a variety of pizzas, but I didn’t expect a vegan pizza option. There was also a container of fried dough which is seldomly vegan. I only highlight this topic because I thought it was odd that I was invited to attend an event about belonging to the organization and no food was provided for me. I’ve only been working there for a few months so I can’t expect everyone to know about my lifestyle choices but it is all a little annoying to have no options. In general, I don’t understand why the default menu offerings load everything with meat and cheese (ie animal products) instead of healthy fruits and vegetables with the option to add fattier, meat and dairy items if desired. This is the third event I’ve been to at work where there was a big food spread and not a single vegan option. Even just a bowl of fruit, plain green salad, or a baguette would work wonders!