How Donuts Ruined My Day

Did you grow up in church?  If you did, you just might associate church with donuts.  At our church there were donuts in nearly every room on every Sunday.  You could not escape the stickiness! 

I used to simply ignore the donuts but now I view them as a threat.  Who knew that church would become such a scary and dangerous place in light of food allergies?!

Thankfully our church does not serve donuts every single week.  For that I am very grateful.  But we did recently have a disastrous donut experience.

For daylight savings Sunday, our church served donuts in the children's ministry to help out all the poor parents who were trying to get their kids out the door on time that Sunday.  We were one of the many families who were running a little behind that morning.  I didn't remember about the donut policy and I just assumed that the allergy free room was just that - allergy free or donut free. 

Can I just stop here and send out a little reminder?  When you're a food allergic parent, never never assume.  Always be prepared and just plan for the worst.  It's just much easier (and less disheartening) that way.

Anyway, we walked into the children's department and headed for Bee's allergy free classroom (they serve Rice Chex which is a safe snack for all the kids in the room).  We were stopped by one of the workers that morning.  She informed us that the class was already eating donuts. 

I went through several emotions in just a few moments. 
Shock - What on earth?
Fear - What if Bee had been dropped off in that room?
Anger - What is wrong with people? 
Discouragement - Does no one take this seriously?

Bee went to our class with us that Sunday because I wanted to keep her as safe as possible.

But it totally ruined my day and I had to leave our class early because I was starting to cry.

Yes, the food allergy stress still does get to me.  Sometimes I'm just blindsided by the flood of emotions and the hopeless feeling.  It's isolating and lonely.  It's a life of fear and worry.

I'm not really sure what happened that Sunday.  I don't know how or why this "mistake" happened.  But it could have been life-threatening.  It served as a reminder that I am always on duty as Bee's advocate and that I can never become complacent in being proactive.

Now I'm struggling with a solution.  I will never feel safe their again if such a huge mixup could happen.  I feel that Bee's condition was not respected and I feel very misled.  The allergy free room was anything but on that morning.  So, I don't know how to proceed.  I am tired of being the allergy free broken record - "Is that safe?  Is food served?  Did you wash your hands?  What are the ingredients?  Are you sure there won't be any food?"

We have food allergies.  I know you forget.  I'd love to forget.  But Bee's life depends on remembering.  Those annoying safety precautions - they are life-preserving for the food allergic kids. 

I'll never look at donuts the same way again.  Who knew something so small could absolutely ruin my day?