Harshing My Mellow

Jane and I are newly middle-aged, with no children. So please excuse me if today's title is woefully out of date. I heard this phrase in the recent past and have been waiting for an excuse to use it!

We were at a party Sunday afternoon. It was a gathering where we only knew the hosts, so we were thrilled to meet a group of vegans. Hey, we're new at this, maybe we could learn something, eh?

It always amazes me how judgmental people can be. We were discussing our new vegan "diet." As I've mentioned several times in the past, we've opted to change our diet primarily for health reasons, although Jane is all for reducing our "eating" footprint. (Vegan eating is much less stressful to the environment, uses far fewer resources to feed an individual, and is certainly more compassionate to our companion residents on this earth.) We also practice "catch and release" with all our uninvited guests (spiders).

But, we wear leather shoes, sometimes. And we believe that it's your choice whether you follow a vegan diet or something else. We also believe it's your choice what you wear and whom you associate with.

The people we met at this party, who shall remain nameless, were appalled that we were not members of PETA; that our primary objective in being vegan wasn't the betterment of the planet; that we don't feed our pets a vegetarian diet; and that we generally follow a live and let live philosophy, we don't proselytize . Jane was wearing her new Birkenstocks, leather upper, and was basically told she didn't know how to be a vegan. So, I guess we didn't make any new friends today.

Really folks, lighten up. Every little bit helps the planet. We're all doing the best that we can. And stop harshing my mellow!