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Hi all,

This is my first Valentines Day since being diagnosed as Celiac, and going
GF/CF.

I have had small amounts of Casein recently and that proved to be bad... so
despite being off it over over 10 months, it looks like I can't add it back
in.

So, my situation:

I received a box of chocolates from a very nice guy that I see for 4 days a
year at a convention we both attend each summer for work.  He is REALLY
nice, and I know I mentioned the GF CF stuff last summer, and in his
Christmas card he even commented on hoping life minus wheat etc was going
well... but I don't think the dairy aspect was mentioned more than in
passing as I find it easy to avoid, and it requires minimal if any
conversation for me in restaurants.  (Wheat however meant no pizza or
hotdogs at the convention center etc, and meant it took the waitress at the
Hard Rock cafe half an hour to figure out something I could eat.)

I know he was very well meaning in sending me this VERY nice box of
chocolates (as the saying goes, not the cheap stuff) and I want to thank him
for it... but I don't really know what to say.

It is awkward for me because I don't want to hurt his feelings, but I don't
want to lie and say I ate it.  I certainly don't want him to feel bad about
doing something so sweet.

It's his "first" effort to let me know he cares... and I know that is what
he was trying to do... but as I said, Dairy doesn't really get much mention
in conversation as Gluten is the harder part for me, so I don't believe he
had a clue this would be a problem.

I guess I'm wondering if any one else has found themselves in a similar
situation, and can offer any advice.

I won't be "seeing" him again until July, for our annual 4 days at the
convention... but I figure he'd at the very least like an e-mail knowing it
got here today.

Any suggestions for nice and tactful ways to deal with this would be greatly
appreciated.  I treasure his friendship.

THANKS!

kathleen
in TX

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