A friend of mine invented this word awhile back.  It means having the appropriate amount of shame.  It’s going to catch on.  Sooner or later.

Lest you think this is a completely unnecessary word, consider the fact that shameless and shameful are opposites, but are both distinctly negative.  Beshamed is a positive descriptor that falls perfectly between the two.  Speaking of shame…

I had to work late tonight (I’m quite beshamed to say that “working late” is still before 7…), and I had a meeting right afterwards.  I had planned on waiting to have dinner after my meeting (roughly 9pm, which is pretty late, if you know me), but I was starving when I left work at 6:30.  So I did what every rational human being would do: I stopped at the chick-fil-a on my way and got the nuggets kid’s meal.  You don’t do that?  What?!

So if I’m really honest with myself, I’m more than beshamed about this.  I’d describe it more as “shameful”.  I don’t know which I’m more ashamed of, the fast food or the kid’s meal.

Why is there so much shame associated with our food choices?  I don’t mind saying that I’m judgmental of other people’s eating habits.  I don’t appreciate when they’re judgmental of mine, yet I always anticipate their being so.  Hypocrisy?  You betcha’!  And I’m beshamed.  Trust you, me: I’m beshamed.

If you’re getting tired of my 30 rock references, you can deal with it!

Random side note: sometimes, I make your mom jokes.  Pretty much nobody finds them as amusing as I do.  That’s kind of how I feel about stupid TV references.  … if you even got that they were TV references.

So pretty much all I think about is food.  We discussed this.  A small percentage of my time is therefore spent on both men and food.  And I have some thoughts on this.

First, it’s probably a deal-breaker if a guy is a picky eater.  I’m not trying to be shallow here.  Really, I’m not.  I just enjoy cooking far too much to really spend the rest of my life with somebody who wouldn’t enjoy eating whatever I cook.  I might rethink this if the right guy came along, but I sort of doubt it.

Second, it’s probably a deal-breaker if a guy won’t tell me when my food isn’t any good.  I’m not saying he should be a jerk.  I certainly don’t believe that.  But he should be able to kindly tell me what I should have done differently.  It secretly annoys me when people say that everything I make is the best ever.  I want to get better, but I need some help.  And I feel dumb when I’m the only one saying, “Yes, these are good, but I think I should have cut the salt since I used salted butter.”  Actually, I don’t feel dumb.  I feel like that girl who is begging anyone to tell her there wasn’t too much salt in her scones.  And that’s not it at all.

Third, it’s probably a deal-breaker if he’s obsessive about a diet regimen.  I’m not opposed to healthy eating.  You know I’m not.  But I don’t need somebody guilting* me every time I want to eat some french fries.

Fourth, it’s probably a deal-breaker if he doesn’t share food.  I want to eat off of his plate, and I want him to eat off of mine.  Elizabeth says you should just try this out on the first date, and if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.  I’m not so sure, but I really hate being afraid to do something that feels so natural to me.

* Apparently “guilting” isn’t a word.  I was distressed by the red underline chrome was giving me, so I looked it up.  I got this message: “No results found for guilting: Did you mean guilting?”  What gives?!