Missed it by THAT much!

When I was a kid, we watched a lot of "Get Smart". The main character, Maxwell Smart, had a lot of memorable quotes. He always got a laugh when he would say, "Missed it by that much." His delivery was spot on.

As a mother of a child with food allergies, I think it is important to have a good sense of humor. And as frustrating as our situation can be, it always helps when I can find a way to laugh. When possible.

As some of you know, I work as a Set Decorator in the film industry. Two of my shows are on Fox, both staring Gordon Ramsay; Hell's Kitchen and MasterChef. MasterChef is currently in production and they sent an e-mail out to the staff and crew asking us if any of our kids would be interested in participating in one of the upcoming competitions. My first reaction was to be VERY excited. Ella, my five year old daughter, is very interested in what I do for a living. She jumps at any opportunity to come to my work. Over the course of a show, there are many stages of development for her to observe. The planning, design and model building. The preliminary materials search. The building of the set. The months of shopping and finally, the set decoration. I try to bring her along so that she can witness and participate in each step. After I finished decorating MC Season 2, I brought her to the set and the first thing she said to me was, "I want to be on this show!" And I told her that the show was like a big game with grown ups who are competing against each other to see who is the best chef. I couldn't foresee a chance for her to appear on camera... until I got an e-mail yesterday.

And then I remembered the food allergies. I knew that if they were doing a food competition with children, things like peanut butter and pasta were VERY likely to be involved. There was no way that she could participate. And I heard Maxwell Smart say his famous phrase, "Missed it by that much!" And I couldn't help but smile.

The good news is that Ella will never know that she missed an opportunity to be on TV. She is already quite bitter about the whole allergy thing and there is no need to add fuel to that fire. But it was a striking reminder of the lack of freedom we have in our lives, at times. But honestly, I am just happy that I have such a fabulous kid who is creative and wonderful in every way.

But I am going to suggest they do a competition for people who have food allergies. Top Chef did it and it was a great episode!