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I’m starting to understand why my parents go to a diner for breakfast every day.

This is something they’ve been doing for more than 15 years. They wake up, do some work in their CRM, walk and feed the dog, check their socials, and then, around 10:30 or so, head to their local diner. My dad almost always gets the same thing, but my mother has some variety in her choices. The only day they don’t do this is Sunday, because the diner is extra-crowded Sunday mornings, and even then they sometimes still do.

I’ve spent years trying to figure out a good breakfast plan. I’ve tried smoothies, shakes, breakfast drinks, bagels, cereal, fruit, microwaved breakfast burritos, homemade breakfast sandwiches, you name it. And for about two weeks it usually works. Then I get tired of it. Or, more precisely, I get tired of either (a) the fact that it doesn’t keep me full or satisfy me (b) the fact that I have to go through the rigmarole of making my own breakfast.

So what do I do? I hit one of the same three places for breakfast on the days I go to the office, and on the days I work from home I usually just have some leftovers or graze all morning until it’s finally lunchtime. I don’t mind making lunch for myself, and I make dinner for myself (and Partner 1) at least five times a week, but breakfast is just so… so eh.

I don’t know what the difference is. If I get up earlier in the morning to make eggs, I still don’t want to prepare them. If I get up later in the morning to skip breakfast altogether I get hungry and end up snacking all morning while at work.

If I had time, I might actually go to a diner every morning for breakfast. The only true diner near me is Waffle House, which is fine, but even then I’d get tired of the food because there are only so many different ways you can combine eggs, meat, potatoes, and bread (I include waffles in the bread category). Plus I’d have to actually drive there, get out of the car, sit down, order, eat, pay, and then go to work, so I’d probably have to wake up 20-30 minutes earlier than I usually do, and I already get up at six, which is plenty early.

The diner where my parents eat has about 50 things on the menu — different breakfast, brunch, and lunch choices; it’s mostly combinations of the same things, but it’s interesting enough that when I go eat there while I’m visiting I can find something I want. I suppose if I went there every day I might get tired of it. Or maybe I wouldn’t; maybe having someone else prepare my breakfast every day would be enough to get me to eat something satisfying and filling which would keep me going until lunch at 11:45.

Maybe someday someone will invent a pill you can take that would replace a meal and make you feel like you ate something substantive so you don’t get hungry an hour later. But for now, I guess it’s the same three places every week for me.