Maryanne had a stressful day at work. Everyone wanted a piece of her. There were fires only she could put out. Too much to do and not enough time. Computers failed. Toilets clogged. The entire Universe conspired to irk Maryanne that day. On her way home, in the middle of a rush hour traffic jam, she had a flat tire. Finally arriving home, the cat was hungry and the litter box smelled, needing attention. She was hungry, too, and very tired.

After attending to the cat, Maryanne opened the refrigerator and poured herself a glass of milk. Yuk, bad from being in the fridge too long. When was the last time she went to the grocery store? No time this past week.

A quick search of the fridge revealed a piece of leftover pizza. Without even bothering to reheat it in the microwave, she grabbed it and started eating as fast as she could. Done, but still hungry, nothing else to eat; she shut the refrigerator door.

What’s in the pantry? Nothing there to eat. Ah…two boxes of Girl Scout cookies from a neighbor girl. Too tired to order out and too hungry to wait for pizza delivery, AND definitely in no mood to cook, even if there were ingredients to cook with (there wasn’t), Maryann grabbed the first box, ripped it open and started eating. Oh, yum! One. Two. Then another, and another, and in a short time, an empty box. Pausing for a moment, still hungry, she attacked the second box, not stopping until all the cookies were gone.

Deeper in the pantry was a can of orange soda, room temperature, not so appetizing; never mind, better than nothing. She tore the ring pull off the can and gulped it down. Belch! Done!

It was not a very good dinner. Nonetheless, it stopped her hunger pangs and her head stopped shaking. As Maryanne settled down on the couch, Marmalade, her cat, took it as a cue to snuggle. They hung to each other as Maryanne fell asleep. In the back of her mind she knew she had eaten badly, but rationalized a stressful day, and comforted herself with “I will do better tomorrow.”