Wow, you sound like me. When I became vegetarian at age 16 my mother's glib comment was, "If you don't eat meat you'll die."  Here I am in my 30's, married with a kid, and it still bothers her!  I am loads healthier than she is.  My  husband says unless it becomes illegal he will continue to eat cows (and chickens and turkeys).
The 4 of us just went out to a chain restaurant 2 nights ago…My mother is convinced the server and manager will run away if they see me come in again.
Being a vegetarian was a piece of cake, I thought omitting factory farm eggs and cow milk would be too.  Boy, was I wrong!