Ordering food...

If people were to just look at my diet they would label me picky but that definitely wasn't the whole story. I limited the different foods that I ate because it made things easier for me. I would lobby to go shopping with my mom because then I had some input on the food she bought for me. I would stick with the same old "reliables" I would eat every week. I was terrified of change, so this approach was a trick I used to ensure I would have some safe food to eat.

One of the scariest parts of growing up was going out to eat. A lot of places didn't have cereal or plain sandwiches which I ate ninety percent of the time. I would scan the menu trying to find the simplest foods with the shortest and easiest name to say. Then I would consider all the side orders and choose something I've had before for piece of mind. Even after stressing over what I wanted, the hardest part was still to come...

Few people were more intimidating than a waitress. They would stroll up to the table ever so casually and cast a huge spotlight on me... well so it felt. I knew when they approached it was time to get my game face on. I repeated over and over in my head the exact words I was going to say. I prayed the whole exchange would go smoothly and she wouldn't ask me anything unexpectedly. I would know most of the options she was going to ask from the menu or from listening to the people who ordered before me. One of the tricks I would use was to order last as a way of knowing what to expect when it came to the questioning and the mini-interrogation.
My other trick was just to say plain. It wasn't even that I necessarily wanted it plain, it would just end most chances of any follow-up questions.

Each time I made it through a trip eating out, I considered it a victory for the good guys!