Stupid me.

I went to lunch with some co-workers this week and was pretty excited because they were folks I rarely get to work with directly so any chance to catch up (and maybe pick their brains a little) is always appreciated! We went to a place I was also excited to check out. I had looked up their menu ahead of time and was stoked to see it was all comfort food—burgers, rips, and stuff like that—but I didn't read the fine print. It was a totally vegan restaurant. No meat, no dairy, no nothing. I'm a picky eater and can usually find something to eat on the menu but this place was out of even my league. One thing I hate about being a picky eater is people noticing me being a picky eater so I made a self-deprecating (I hope) joke about being "100% the opposite of a vegetarian" and then went ahead and ordered a faux cheese pizza but asked that it come without mushrooms since they are my mortal culinary enemy.

It was right around this point a bee decided to make its way to our table and stay there. I sat stock still as my co-workers swatted at it and it just kept buzzing around the table.

I'm allergic to bees.

So by now I'm starting to look for the hidden camera since I felt like I was in some TV show that takes all of the chinks in your armor and exploits them until you explode and start running around like a mad man. I finally broke and told m table mates of my allergy and they were totally sympathetic. I think the bee was too because tat that point it took off never to return.

My pizza wasn't great, fake cheese does not taste better as it cools, but the company and conversation was terrific. I walked away from the lunch appreciating my co-workers even more as I simultaneously wished I didn't have so many stupid food hang-ups and wasn't allergic to stupid bees.