Mistake....

After three months of being a vegetarian I make my first mistake.

Last night I attended a 'thank you' reception hosted by Volunteer New Zealand. As I volunteer with Postgrad Student's Association at Victoria and the Wellington SPCA I was invited by a university colleague to attend. I met a whole bunch of people who volunteer in various capacities all around Wellington; we chatted while sipping wine and taking in the beautiful harbor view. Inching my way over to the table spread with all varieties of nibbles I eyed each platter; this is what's challenging about being a vegetarian. When you're out and about it can be difficult to determine what contains meat or not. This is made more interesting because there's an expectation that, at events like this, you have something to eat. After some mental head scratching and asking other people what they thought I selected a little egg/veggie cake and popped it into my mouth. Later I found out that those were tiny crab cakes. Upon learning this I mentally smacked my forehead with my hand. Come on Bridget! Interestingly, as I took stock of my reaction I realized two things. First, I felt like an idiot because I've gone out of my way to make a decision to avoid meat. Second, I realized that, beyond feeling silly, I wasn't actually panicking. The world would not end because of this error; there was no feeling of failure. Instead, I had a good laugh at myself, saying, "Ok next time, just stick to the brie".