When a fridge relationship cools

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I visit my fridge many times during the day

In the morning she blinks a good morning to me as I open the door

She wakes up and offers me breakfast

Usually yogurt and fresh fruit

I thank her for breakfast and close her door

She naps when her door is closed

Come mid morning I am feeling peckish

I open her door and ask what she has to offer

She suggests I eat some raw vegetables

Come lunchtime I visit the fridge again

She tells me to watch my calorie intake

Suggests a salad for lunch

I am hungry again by mid afternoon and revisit my fridge

I tell her I want those leftovers from the restaurant meal

We have a long chat about my snacking habits

She tells me to drink two glasses of water and no more snacking

I follow her advice and reluctantly close the door

Half an hour later I open the door again

She tells me to stay busy instead of eating

Points out that she needs a good cleanup

I get busy and throw away stuff that is getting old plus the leftovers

She sighs with contentment as I wash down her shelves

Then she tells me to close her door and go for a walk

I wander around the town and bump into some friends

We go to a happy hour and have a few drinks

Then we get hungry and order food

The happy our ends but we stay until late

We order more food and drinks

I get back home and open the fridge door

She shakes her head when she sees yet another bag of leftovers

Tells me I should not eat out so often and instead eat her healthy food at home

I am tired of her lecturing and ignore her

I throw in the leftovers and slam the door shut

I tell her to shut and leave me alone

I put on the TV then promptly fall asleep

Its late when I wake up in front of the TV

I am hungry and go searching for leftovers

The fridge door will not open at all

She refuses to unlock it until I apologize for being rude

I am too hungry to stand there arguing and offer my apologies

She unlocks the door and we have a long chat

I get a stern lecture on healthy eating while holding the door open

I nod in fake agreement that I am finished eating for today

Then I make a grab for the leftovers before she closes the door

Eating cold pizza at 2am is my reward

It tastes so good

The next day I wake up late and wander into the kitchen

Half expecting the fridge door to be locked again

It opens easily but I can sense something is wrong with her

Everything is defrosted and warm and all the food inside is ruined

I demand an explanation from the fridge

She tells me to calm down and listen to her

Pointing out that she turned herself off to deliberately destroy the contents

As a last desperate measure to stop me from over eating junk food

She asks me to go shopping and just buy healthy food to restock

Promises to keep it fresh if I promise to stick to my diet

I calm down and agree with her completely

I shake her handle to seal the deal

Then I empty all the rotting food

She switches herself back on again

She sighs with relief when I wipe down her shelves

I go to Whole Foods and pick up a ton of healthy foods

They take my whole paycheck at the checkout

My fridge smiles when I restock her

We become best friends again 

My desire to snack gets stronger every day

But I do not want to let her down

I figure out a way to keep her happy

I buy a second fridge and put her in the garage

She looks so cute in there alongside my tools

Stocked with beer and unhealthy treats

My garage fridge loves to party with me

While my kitchen fridge thinks I am sticking to my diet

I visit the garage fridge often late at night

We drink beer together and chat endlessly about nothing

She watches TV with me and offers me snacks

She squeezes my hand when I touch her door handle

We become very close

Life is great again for me and for both my fridges

It all comes undone after a month or so

I open the kitchen fridge asking her for salad to make my lunch

She blinks her light slowly and then starts to cry

I ask her what is bothering her and she sobs

You are cheating on me with that floozy in the garage

Fights in the pantry over me

Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

I have never had to diet that much in my lifetime

up to the age of forty, my weight was constant

despite whatever I ate or drank

I developed a love for bread and potatoes

it was a lot of fun for a while

until my weight started to creep up slowly

I took up running to burn off some extra calories

and I briefly cut out bread and potatoes to get my weight back down

then it stayed constant for a long time

well more or less constant

I would always come back from vacations a few pounds heavier

a week of light eating got it back down to ‘normal’

my love affair with bread and potatoes resumed

around the age of fifty, I developed severe knee pain

my doctor told me to give up running completely

so I bought a bike and hit the road

I was soon cycling 100 miles a week

I was burning off a lot of calories from intense cycling

so much that I could eat and drink anything I wanted without weight gain

bread and potatoes became my lovers of choice

I sustained this lifestyle for more than a decade 

my bread and potatoes love fair continued 

until I got Covid with follow-on complications

never-ending cycles of colds, sinus infections, and bronchitis ensued

I had no energy and impaired breathing for over three months

I fell back on my comfort food of bread and potatoes

they told me not to worry and just eat more of them

it was so bad that I was unable to get on my bike

without regular exercising and my weight crept up 

the bread and potatoes consoled me daily

eventually, I got well enough to start cycling again

it took a few months to get back into my cycling routine

I was not happy with my heavier weight

and my cycling performance was well below par

I had a long and serious chat with the bread and potatoes

they were not happy about breaking up our relationship

they cried and cried as I left them unconsumed on my plate

I got hooked on weight loss and my cycling performance improved

I set myself a goal to drop below my pre-covid weight

but my body refused to cooperate and I hit a plateau

the bread and potatoes kept calling me from the pantry

I was somehow able to resist their efforts to lure me back into their arms

it took a sustained effort of dieting and exercise to crawl off that weight plateau

the bread and potatoes keep winking at me

but the celery and peppers are my new lovers

I imagine they have fights over me in the pantry