I love food, and my life is sometimes built around my attempts to restrain from temptation or my inability to do so and the subsequent guilt.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve loved to eat. I’m just lucky I had a mom who either didn’t love food as much as I do or who had much more restraint.

Either way, my childhood was one of nutritious meals, fresh fruits and vegetables and almost no junk food.

Except when I went to play with friends.

They had junk food at their houses, and I thought they were the luckiest kids in the world.

I’ll never know if their moms felt sorry for my lack of access to junk food or if they felt guilty for providing it for me. In all honesty, I’m pretty sure it was a combination of both.

On particularly memorable day, I was playing with Kathy Loomis. For some reason, my brother was there too, and Kathy’s mother just kept feeding us. And we just kept eating.

She must have felt guilty, because right after she gave us glazed doughnuts, she took out a new contraption. She told us it was a recorder and that if we talked into it, it would record exactly what we said.

She demonstrated this by clicking a button, holding a microphone to our mouths and asking my brother and me what we’d eaten that day.

In the obedient nature of  six-year-old and four-year-old children, we answered her questions with enthusiasm. We listed all of the “forbidden foods” we’d eaten. She then responded, on tape, “That was a lot of food.”

When she said that, I put aside the half-eaten doughnut.

A short time later, my mom came to take us home, and Mrs. Loomis played the recording. In our own voices, we listened to ourselves recite all of the forbidden food that we had eaten that day.

Even at age four, I knew I’d been had.

Mrs. Loomis must have been feeling guilty, and she had tricked Sean and me into confessing  our sins.

After Mrs. Loomis played the recording for my mother, she retrieved my half-eaten doughnut and handed it to me.

Needless to say, I had lost my appetite.

To this day, I’m not a big fan of doughnuts.

But the lesson I learned that day always makes me smile. I would never again be so willing to do something I would later regret admitting.

Day 73: Learning From Our Mistakes   Day 72: Live Music

Day 71: Sleeping In    Day 70:  Grover   Day 69:  A Good Hair Day  Day 68: A Sense of Community  Day 67:  Kindness   Day 66: Living in a Place You Love  Day 65: Gifts from the Heart    Day 64: The Arrival of Fall   Day 63: To Kill a Mockingbird   Day 62: Green Lights Day 61:  My Canine Friends  Day 60:  Differences   Day 59:  A New Box of Crayons   Day 58: Bookworms  Day 57: Being Oblivious   Day 56: Three-day Weekends  Day 55:  A Cat Purring  Day 54: Being a Unique Individual   Day 53: Children’s Artwork  Day 52: Lefties  Day 51: The Neighborhood Deer   Day 50: Campfires  Day 49: Childhood Crushes  Day  48: The Words “Miss You”  Day 47:  Birthday Stories   Day 46: Nature’s Hold on Us  Day 45:  Play-Doh   Day 44: First Day of School Pictures  Day 43: Calvin and Hobbes  Day 42: Appreciative Readers  Day 41: Marilyn Monroe’s Best Quote   Day 40:  Being Silly  Day 39:  Being Happy Exactly Where You Are  Day 38: Proud Grandparents  Day 37: Chocolate Chip Cookies   Day 36: Challenging Experiences that Make Great Stories  Day 35: You Can’t Always Get What You Want  Day 34:  Accepting the Fog    Day 33: I See the Moon  Day 32: The Stonehenge Scene from This is Spinal Tap  Day 31: Perspective  Day 30:  Unlikely Friendships  Day 29: Good Samaritans  Day 28:  Am I a Man or Am I a Muppet?    Day 27: Shadows  Day 26: Bike Riding on Country Roads  Day 25: When Harry Met Sally  Day 24: Hibiscus   Day 23: The Ice Cream Truck  Day 22:  The Wonderful World of Disney   Day 21: Puppy love  Day 20 Personal Theme Songs     Day 19:  Summer Clouds  Day 18: Bartholomew Cubbin’s Victory Day 17:  A Royal Birth    Day 16:  Creative Kids Day 15: The Scent of Honeysuckle   Day 14: Clip of Kevin Kline Exploring His Masculinity Day 13: Random Text Messages from My Daughter     Day 12:  Round Bales of Hay Day 11:  Water Fountains for Dogs    Day 10: The Rainier Beer Motorcycle Commercial Day 9: Four-Leaf Clovers  Day 8: Great Teachers We Still Remember Day  7:  Finding the missing sock   Day 6:  Children’s books that teach life-long lessons Day 5: The Perfect Photo at the Perfect Moment     Day 4:  Jumping in Puddles   Day 3: The Ride Downhill after the Struggle Uphill    Day 2: Old Photographs Day 1: The Martians on Sesame Street