Could this day have been any weirder? I started out working at my volunteer job (CASA), ran from there to grab lunch for my son and husband, dropped it off, went to a health food store across town to pick up shake samples, then to my counseling appt, and finally to the doctor.

My surgeon said I was doing great, lost another pound or two and I am right on target.

All the way home, I sang Christmas carols and thought about how much fun we are going to have in Canada starting tomorrow. I was halfway home when I got this call from Hubs:

"Ummmm we have a conundrum", he said.

I was stuck in traffic and didn't want to try and remember what a conundrum was and replied, "Oh god. Whuuuut?"

At which point, the man launched straight into a nonsensical tirade about why he cannot go to Canada tomorrow when have been planning this trip for months.

I didn't understand a word he was saying aside from "Leave pay...extra month...BAH...discharge...and REFRAD" all military terms that mean "Oh shit. Something is wrong with the finances."

Of course, I jumped into full panic mode and had to pull over into a Braum's parking lot so I could try to make sense of it.

Having just come from a therapy session where I learned how to deal with stress better, I calmed myself down and tried to ask specific questions in order to wrap my brain around the dilemma.

It still made no sense and Hubs started hollering so I just hung up on him and went through the drive thru.

I wasn't hungry. It was pure habit. All I could think of is...we are going to either miss our trip entirely or be separated at Christmas! On complete drive-thru-autopilot, I ordered food...chili, frankfurter burger, and jr hamburger. I didn't even get meals or drinks. I just randomly ordered stuff and drove off.

As I got back on the road, I looked over puzzled, in my passenger seat at the food I now hoped kiddo and husband would eat and drove on.

The entire way, I tried to figure out what in the hell my husband was trying to tell me. By the time I got home, I had more specific questions in place. But he met me at the door while talking on the phone to my sister who was also trying to make sense of it all.

They gave me the phone. All I could say was "I dont know" and it wasn't until about an hour later that I figured it all out.

My husband is being discharged from his current military orders on January 21. We knew that this morning. We also knew that his pay would end at that time and that he was going to have to bust ass to find a job by the end of the month. OK....now what?

Well, apparently, his boss called to say that if he wanted to, he could stay home and work through our trip, saving his leave pay (vacation pay) to be paid in cash in February. Without taking into account other sources of income or what we might lose if we cancelled, he panicked and we started cancelling things.

He not only panicked, he drug everybody in our world down with him.

His sister came by to say goodbye to our kiddo and she got caught in the crossfire because she wanted to present some alternative ideas and perspective on the situation. Hah! What a waste of time. My husband doesn't let anyone finish a sentence, which was why it was taking me so long to get through to him. Before I knew it, he and his sister were hollering at each other in my living room. Me and the kids just rolled our eyes at them until they left and I cried.

Finally, my husband asked me to explain it again. So I did. We were no worse off than we were this morning. This morning, we knew we were not getting paid past January and we knew we were going to Canada and were happy about the trip.

Well, the next thing I knew, he was back in. But I had already canceled one house sitter, canceled our ride to the airport and he had fought with his sister, our other (free!) house sitter. (And when I say House Sitter, I mean animal watcher and we have 7 animals in this house! It is not easy to find folks to pet sit for us, especially not for free. Thank God for SIL, but oops, hubs had just offended her.)

I handed that fool the phone. He called everyone and got them back on board. I rescheduled the shuttle and now, I think all is well. We wasted soooo much time, though. I shouldn't even be writing this blog but I had to share this story. Whew!

I mean really. If that doesn't drive a food addict to eat, I don't know what will?

But, so far. I have handled it without food and I guess that is why I posted this story: I am proud of myself.

wow...Sorry to hear about that, but glad you got it worked out! But focusing on your behavior/habit. How did you feel after you went through the drive thru? Did you reach over and want to eat, and then it hit you "I can't eat that"....or was it just the stress relief of knowing the food was there?

I know that autopilot feeling regarding the drive thru! That was me last summer. I just kept driving up! I would offer to go to the store so that I could eat McNuggets on the way.

I'm so impressed you could just look at it and not start snarfing. I'm getting there too. Doesn't it feel good to break that habit?

I was more puzzled about how it had gotten there than anything. I was practically unconscious while ordering it. I thought about all the times I had done that in the past. I would have eaten it then, just because I wouldn't want to waste it. I have always made my body the trash can. Can't waste it---gotta eat it!