"Going, going, going... gone!"

When you have celiac disease, you are more likely than not, a planner. You don't want to be stuck anywhere, especially not on a busy day having to figure out lunches. A lot of miscommunications happened during our crazy day on a tour through the Amalfi Coast and in Pompeii. I have been gluten free for 15 years, and my father still doesn't understand what it means to live with celiac disease. It had to be yet another conversation with so many people that day of what it means to have celiac, what gluten free actually means, and as much as you can prepare, there has to be an element of being prepared for everything to go wrong. There's also an element of patience one has to have in the aggravation of having to explain yourself so many times. To both people in your personal life, and the world. Very few people that don't have celiac disease, it's very hard for them to wrap their minds around what it all means.

I would love to know how other people navigate this on a constant basis like I've had to. It really gets frustrating when my father asks me if I would like eggs off his plate, as he splits opened a piece of regular bread getting crumbs all over his plate. Then my extra annoyance when he's not getting my "no thank you". Strangers I'm able to have slightly more patience with. How would they know? But everyone with celiac has a story of family members and friends not taking it seriously and no matter how many times they explain it, the close ones in their life just not getting it. I'm still not sure of how to navigate the lack of awareness. I'm not sure how to keep my patience with this. Right now, I have to learn to deal with the surprise of the ignorance people have I think.

For those of you with celiac, how do you navigate this? So far, it seems like there's no answer of getting people to understand. It seems like the biggest answer is to be in charge of the family holidays. But there never seems to be an answer where it feels like a win-win. Or not feeling less than, even when that feeling is not intended by others. Perhaps this is not a post where I learn a lesson, but vent a little bit and get advice from perhaps the reader?