While going through airport security recently, I was surprised when my carry-on case was pulled off the conveyor belt for closer inspection. I couldn’t imagine what I had that would look even remotely suspicious.

The culprit was my food scale! Apparently, the TSA agent had never seen one. She called over a fellow agent to have a look, and the other agent had never seen one either. I told them what it was and showed them how it worked. Then they both wanted to know why I weighed my food.

Because I didn’t want to miss my flight, I briefly explained that my eyes are broken when it comes to gauging food quantities, and I needed the scale to keep my portions right-sized. Since I would be qualifying at a meeting on my trip, I even showed them my “before” pictures that were in my purse.

One of the agents said her daughter could sure benefit from a food scale. I told her I was in a Twelve-Step program for food addiction and gave her the web address for FA. She thanked me and let me put the “suspicious” item back in my suitcase.

You never know when you might be given the opportunity to do Twelve-Step work. It might even be when someone suspects you’re trying to bring something dangerous onto an airplane!