Virtual Turkey Trot!

"Run, Forrest, run!" ~Jenny

I'm sure most of y'all have heard of a Turkey Trot.  In a lot of cool places (read: bigger cities!) they have a 5K run on Thanksgiving Day so that people can go burn off some of that turkey (and potatoes and gravy and stuffing and corn and pie and more pie...) that they plan to eat later in the day. 

 

Well, some of us don't live in big cities but still want to run.  So my friend Jen and I have come up with a solution.....a Virtual Turkey Trot! 

<center> <a href="www.almostgypsysoul.blogspot.com"><img border="0" src="http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y467/jendutton5/2013TurkeyTrotbutton2_zps4e17e791.jpg"/></a></center>

 

You just go out wherever you are and run (or jog or walk) a 5K sometime between Thanksgiving Day and the following Sunday (November 28 - December 1).  If your town has an official Turkey Trot and you want to do that, go for it and that counts too! 

Then we'll host a link up the following week and those of you with blogs can blog about the run and share your link.  If you don't have a blog, you can send your pictures/story to me or Jen and we'll include you in our recap.  Easy peasy.

 

And to provide some incentive and to do some good, if Jen and I can get participation from people in 10 states, we will both make a generous donation to the Salvation Army to kick off the Holiday Season!  So.....all you readers out there....get this on your calendar.

 

College Roomie, this means you, even though you'll whine that "this is NOT fun" all the way.  Loud Oklahoma Girl, this means you since you now have a blog!  (Go here to follow her!)  Make AB's Mama come with you!  Pharmer Girl, I know for a fact you have pretty new running shoes that need to be included.  Miss Livin It Right, you've been working out with a trainer and know you want to do this in our happy little hometown.  Mrs. Robertson, we need someone to represent in the Northeast!  The Hepburns, I think that a family run is in order down your dirt road!  Arkansassy, this will let you check a goal off your November list.  Chicken Plucker, you can eat some carbs with dinner if you do this!  Georgia Boy, your rock star wife can do a 5K in her sleep, have her do it for you.  Nomad, what else do you have to do on an island all day anyway?   Super Mom, your boys would love this and burn off lots of energy in the process! 

And the most excited person of all?  The Boy from Texas, who will have the pleasure of running down the gravel road amongst the wheat fields with me on Thanksgiving morning.  He can't wait.

   

Turning the Big 3-0

"A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun.  Enjoy the trip."  ~Author Unknown

Thank you all so much for your sweet birthday wishes last Friday!  I can officially report that I survived turning the Big 3-0! 

I was actually at an ag law conference in Madison, Wisconsin on the big day.  So my birthday consisted mostly of listening to presentations about ag law issues.  But then one of my law school buddies decided it would be a good idea to have the whole room full of people sing to me.  If you know me, you know I despise singing on birthdays.  Seriously, despise.  Somehow, however, it always seems to happen.  One year, my friend Leon had the whole law school Halloween party sing to me on stage.  Another, the same friend (note to self...no more spending birthdays with him!) had a Mexican food restaurant sing to me whilst making me wear a sombrero.  Anyway, this year was no exception and a room of about 250 ag lawyers sang me happy birthday.  And I almost died.  So yea, there was that.

Me and my friend NYC Ag Lawyer (yep, she has her own firm in NYC!)

Then, my dear, sweet, amazing friends ND Friend and Tiny Dancer came over from Chicago in order to take me out to dinner for my birthday.  For those of you who don't know Midwestern geography, that's a 3 hour drive.  One way.  Yep.  Friendship.  Right there.  And they showed up in style...party hats, horns, confetti being thrown in the streets.....seriously, it was like a parade!

 

 

First things first, however.  The night before my birthday, those two had some exciting news in the form of a big shiny diamond ring on a very important finger!  Yes, that's right, folks, ND Friend and Tiny Dancer are getting married!  I'm not sure I have ever seen two people more excited to be engaged and it was so much fun to get to share that with them.  I, suspecting that this was coming, had put together a little engagement gift basket and brought it with me from Texas for the happy couple.

Engagement basket:  magazine, journal, fun pens, coffee mug, ring pops

The happy couple!

For dinner, we went to this great little bar/restaurant on the square in Madison.  While there, I opened my present from ND Friend and her sister, Super Mom, and found this little baby.....

Once again, best friends in the world, I have.  I got seriously the most beautiful ring from Tiffany's.  Silver band with the Tiffany's blue in the middle.  It's amazing and I absolutely love it!  It came along with a bottle of wine and some of ND Friend's best in the world homemade chocolate chip cookies.  I kinda died and went to heaven.

Oh, one more thing.  No, two.  First, my parents sent me some birthday money to go shopping, so I bought a birthday outfit.  Check it out.  It's a emerald green shirt from Maurices, brown boots from Sears, and black skinny jeans from Stitch Fix.  Trendy, right?  (Connie J, excuse the bathroom picture....I forgot to have someone else take one and had to improvise!)

And the second thing.....The Boy from Texas has been harassing me with talk of a birthday present for months.  Well since I didn't get to see him on my birthday, I didn't get said present yet.  He has, however, given me a few clues about what were looking at.  I know the following:  (1) it is not an engagement ring (don't want anyone getting overly excited here); (2) it is not from Academy; (3) it is shiny; (4) someone else knows about it; (5) he bought it at the nicest store in Amarillo; and (6) it will make up for us having to be apart so much.  My guess?  Private jet.  Apparently that's not the right answer.  I will have to wait a couple more weeks to see what he's got up his sleeve....

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key....went to a bar in Evanston to watch my Pokes beat up on the Texas Tech Red Raiders (at which time I won two bets...one is a friend from Tech making a photo of him in an OSU shirt his profile on Facebook for a week, another lets me breed one of my ewes to my friend's ram....yep, country girls make these kind of bets!).  On Sunday we went to Mass at the most beautiful church in Old Town Chicago....and ND Friend and Tiny Dancer loved it so much that they are getting married there in July!  AHHHH!

I returned home to a homemade banana pie from New Roomie along with my very first Texas A&M shirt (which I have agreed to wear this Friday since the Pokes don't have a big game this week....I still feel a bit like Benedict Arnold!)

So there ya go.  That's what turning 30 looked like for me.  Pretty sure that it's going to be a good year, kids!

Don't Ever Waste It...

My 30 Things List: The Finale

Well, now that I'm 30 (and three days) I wanted to do a finale post for my list of the 30 things every woman should know and have by the time she is 30.  I was inspired to create this list while laying on a beach in Costa Rica reading a book where the author made her own list.  It's been fun thinking through the items and trying to ensure that I know and have these things.  As you've seen over the last year, I've written a series of posts detailing each list item.  If you missed any of the posts in the series, click here.

Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica, 2012

Today, I leave you with my full list and the following quote:  "The man who views the world at fifty the same as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life." -- Muhammad Ali

In the world of Tiffany, by the time she is 30...

Every woman should know...

The difference between politics and people.

Her limit, be it alcohol sun or late nights.

How to manage her money.

Not to think she needs to marry someone to do things for her (ie. cars, money, tools).

How to keep a person's memory alive.

That it's okay to want things and go after them.

That even though friendships change they do not have to end.

Things she really likes to do versus things she wishes she likes to do.

How to dance without caring what anyone thinks.

How to do something by herself, be it dinner, a movie, a trip or a wedding.


The difference between being too picky and a deal-breaker.

Who her true friends are.

When its time to make a change in her life, and how to summons the courage to do it.

The difference between a good opportunity and the right opportunity.

How she likes her eggs (ala Julia Roberts in Runaway Bride).

That she cannot marry someone (or stay at a job) just so she does not hurt another person's feelings.

End every woman should have...

A passport.

An item that connects her to her past.

Good sheets.

A go-to perfume.

A favorite style of underwear.

A good pair of heels and the ability to walk in them.

Go-to songs for every event.

A cause that she is passionate about.

Pictures hung on her wall.

Read one of "the classics."

Bought something a little expensive just for herself.

A workout routine that works for her body.

An "I Voted" sticker from an election.

A go-to drink.

A comfort hoodie.

Me at 30

"Age has given me what I was looking for my entire life.  It has given me me. It has provided time and experience and failures and triumphs and time-tested friends who have helped me step into the shape that was waiting for me. I fit into me now.” ~Anne Lamont

Today marks the end of a chapter in my story, the one titled "Twenties."  And what a good chapter it was.  As I look back at the posts I wrote describing myself at 28 and again at 29, I can definitely see changes in the last two years, but as I think back to the day I turned 20, I hardly recognize that girl.

Me and College Roomie - Circa age 20

The last decade has changed me, hopefully for the better.  My twenties brought me laughter and friendship, heartbreak and loss, achievement and fear.  These years saw a nephew, a God Daughter, and a closet full of bridesmaid dresses.  It brought passport stamps and diplomas and a love for all things orange.  Before my twenties I had never run more than a mile, I had never set foot in another country, and I would never have dreamed of living alone in a big city.  Today, I've seen the sun set in 9 countries, I've finished two half marathons, and I've had the summer of my life living on a high rise apartment overlooking the San Francisco Bay.

Above all, this chapter has been one of change, which culminated in my 29th year.  In the last year, I quit my job.  I bought a house.  I moved to a different state.  I found a boyfriend.  I traveled to 4 new countries.  I sold a house.  I bought a new vehicle. I got an iPhone.  I worked hard on a 30 by 30 list.  To be honest, looking back at all of that makes me a little bit tired!

And so here we are.  Me at 30.  Who am I today?

I think I'm me.  Maybe more "me" than I have been before.  I know what I believe and what I am willing to fight for.  I know who I am and who I am not.  I know what I want and what I will do to get it.

I am happy.  That deep-down-in-your-soul-life-is-good-I-am-where-I-am-supposed-to-be kind of happy.

At 30, I've learned to embrace the wrinkles around my eyes and the pain in my back when I sit too long and the extra "cushion" around my waist.  These things--as annoying as they are--are a part of me and I have become comfortable with that.

At 30, I've experienced God.  While praying in the Sistine Chapel, kneeling before the bones of St. Paul, celebrating the feast of the Infant of Prague before the very statue, and lighting candles in a quiet grotto in South Bend.  But I've also seen Him in the laugh lines on someone's face, in words spoken by a friend, in a hospital room holding a brand new baby, in a little boy playing tree trunk drums, in a tiny run down church, and in enchiladas delivered before a funeral.  He is everywhere--in both the holy and the every day.

I'm someone who has spent a lot of money on tickets, be it for airplanes or football games or concerts.  And I do not regret spending a single penny on those experiences and memories.

And then there's this boy.  The one with the baby blue eyes who calls me honey and holds my hand.  He's helped to change me for the better.  With him I'm more comfortable and more confident and more relaxed.  Who he is has made me better at being who I am.

I am trying to live my life according to two of my favorite quotes, "Don't question the story that God is writing for you and don't discount the one He is writing for your neighbor."  and  "When God blesses, I can't complain that the details aren't the way I would have planned."

I've accepted that the timeline and picture that I had in my head is not what my life is going to look like.  And that was hard to swallow.  But now, if I'm honest, I really believe that the reality is better than the picture anyway.

Sadly, I'm also someone who has had to say too many goodbyes.  My twenties, as much as they were a decade of great things, were a decade of devastating loss as well.  There were heartbreaking funerals, a lot of tears, two eulogies, and being a pall bearer.  I said goodbye to some of my favorite people, mentors, and friends.  They impacted me in such a way as to change me forever, and I can only hope that the world can see some little part of them in me.

In the end, I thank God for the "Twenties" chapter.  I thank Him for the prayers that He answered in the way I asked, and probably even more for the ones He answered in far better ways.  I look back at the people who have loved me and supported me and believed in me during this last chapter and am completely in awe.  There could not be a better cast of people in my life, those who are still here and those who are in Heaven.

I'm still figuring out the plot, and so far, it's been a heck of a ride.  Here's to the "Thirties" chapter being even bigger and better.

Life-Changing Moments

We talk all the time about life-changing moments.  How this or that changed our lives.  I think that honestly, there are very few moments that truly, literally change your life--those moments that you can really point to and say that your life was wholly different before those seconds than it ever was again after. 

9 years ago on this day, one of those moments--one phone call--changed mine.  9 years ago tomorrow, the same nightmare happened again.  Two days.  Two phone calls. Two car accidents.  Two friends.  Gone forever. 

I could tell you exactly where I was when those calls happened.  I can still remember the ringtone on my phone, and walking in circles on campus not knowing where to go, and College Roomie slamming her bedroom door after I answered her question, "Is it true?"  I remember someone cancelling my birthday party and Captain Don coming over to just sit on the couch in silence and NM Animal House Boy cooking dinner.  And then, later that week, I remember saying goodbye.  The caskets and tears and music.

But mostly, I remember my friends.  Boys who were funny and kind and handsome and sweet and pulled great jokes and made me smile.  They made my life better.  And losing them broke my heart.  The world is not the same without them in it.  My life is not the same without them in it.  And today in addition to the pain, I feel gratitude for the effect they had on me and on so many others.

New Roomie's Birthday Request

“How strange that the nature of life is change, yet the nature of human beings is to resist change. And how ironic that the difficult times we fear might ruin us are the very ones that can break us open and help us blossom into who we were meant to be.” ~Elizabeth Lesser

Today is New Roomie's birthday.  She's turning 24.  (And she should seriously start a blog, but she's too busy doing Engineering math homework that literally has so many letters, her friend thought it was German homework.)

Me and New Roomie with BFF and Mr. FFA

Obviously knowing that I can't cook and am completely uncrafty, she didn't ask me to bake a cake or make her anything from paper mache.  She did, however, ask if I would write a letter with advice to myself at 24.  Well seeing as how I seriously love doing these kind of letters and 24 was not an age I've done yet (I previously have posted letters to myself at 16, 18, and 20), she's getting her birthday request.  The fact that she now is in a similar place in her life as I was at 24 (in graduate school, single, had a great college experience, great friends and family, etc), hopefully the advice I'd give to myself will prove useful to her as well.


Dear 24-year-old-Tiffany,

This chapter in your life, in many ways, is one of transition.  You've closed the book on your college chapter, although you couldn't imagine leaving that place and those people behind.  You've settled into your new home and new chapter, although there were times when you couldn't imagine ever being comfortable here.  You've let go of the fear and uncertainty that comes with something new and now have settled into a routine.  As you go forward, here are a few bits of advice.

Me and the girls circa age 24

Slow down and appreciate the now.  It's easy to look at a chapter of transition as something to just get through--eyes on the next goal, the cap and gown and the new job and the (hopefully large) paycheck those things will bring.  And similarly, it's easy to compare the chapter of transition to the past to which it can never live up.  But there is value, real value, in this in between where you now live.  Soak that in.  Appreciate the things that you have the chance to learn and see and hear and experience.  The truth is, the future may not be exactly what you have pictured and you probably only remember the best parts of the past.  Don't be so busy looking forward or looking back that you miss out on the good that is now.

Believe that love will find you.  I know that it's hard to believe this.  I know you feel alone and unlovable and like you'll never be good enough.  And what's worse?  You feel like the only one.  Your fridge is covered in wedding invitations and baby announcements and it feels as though every other girl on the planet has the things that you long for.  I'm no expert in spiritual warfare, but I'm about 99% sure that these feelings are what the devil uses to get in your head and screw you up.  You have to believe that love will find you.  Ignore all of the stupid people and their stupid comments that make you feel inferior, try to suppress your urge to smack the next person who says "you'll find him when you stop looking," and don't let your own doubt take over.  It's going to take time (more than you want) and it's going to be hard (harder than you want), but it's going to be worth it (more than you imagine).  Oh, and if you don't believe me, the Randy Rogers says that love finds you, so there ya go.

Really learn something in your classes.  You understand how to play the game as it is, meaning that you know how to ace a test.  But later in your life, you'll wish that you had taken the time and put in the effort to really learn the material, to remember it and think about applying it and really retain the information that you are given.  I'm not sure the best way to do that, but if you can figure it out, you'll be miles ahead in the future.

Take the time to get to know the people around you.  Law school has placed so many amazing people in your path.  People who are smart and passionate and driven and brilliant.  People whom you likely never would have met had you not been in this very place.  Don't get so caught up in the stress of school---the outlines and the tests and the opening argument---that you miss getting to know the people.  And don't let the competitiveness that people assume has to come with the territory take over your life.  You will leave law school with friends of different races, cultures, backgrounds, religions, you name it.  You'll be in their weddings and hold their babies and celebrate in their joys and cry in their grief.  And one day, you'll realize that the people you met were worth more than any letter on a report card.  Heck, thanks to you College Roomie marries one of these people of whom you speak.  She'll vouch for this one.

Take chances.  Apply for job at the high powered law firm that no one believes you can get.  And when you get it, live it up.  Take the vacation.  Plan the post-bar trip.  See the Sistine chapel and snorkel in Mexico and do the things that you only dream about right now.  Follow your heart.  Find out who you are.  Volunteer.  Take risks.  Discover where it is that you can feel God's presence.  Do great things.  That's what you're here for.  Ships weren't made for the harbor and all of that jazz.

Most of all...enjoy the ride,

Tiffany at 29 (I still technically have 2 days 'til 30)

P.S.--New Roomie, ignore my BFF.  Move that salt shaker.

Notre Dame Through Uncle Buddy's Eyes

"Whenever I go to Notre Dame, it gives me a warm feeling of faith in humankind. Everything that's good and decent and fair is right there on that campus--I can feel it in the air."  ~Regis Philbin

Back in September, Uncle Buddy (known to you all as Uncle Black Belt) and I went on a little adventure to South Bend, Indiana, to watch a Notre Dame football game.  This was my third trip to Notre Dame and I've got to tell you, there's just nothing like it.  But since you've heard about these trips from me before (here and here), I wanted you to get to hear about the trip from Uncle Buddy's perspective.  So here's a look at Notre Dame through his eyes.

A Visit to Notre Dame

What a ride.  In September, my niece and I attended a college football game at the University of Notre Dame.  What an experience and a fulfillment of a life-long dream.  We both flew into Chicago, arriving about the same time, went to get our motel and get ready for the next day's activities.  It was a wasted night as very little sleep came due to the excitement of what lay ahead.

The next morning we went to this little café in Chicago where they served pancakes with all kinds of stuff in them....fruit, chocolate, etc.  (Bongo Room, for those of you visiting Chicago in the future.)  Mine tasted very good, but had I known what was in it, I probably wouldn't have ordered it.  The best thing about our breakfast was that I got to meet my  new niece, Rozann (aka ND Friend on this blog), and welcome her to my family.

The nieces at breakfast.

Best pancakes ever.  Bongo Room.  On Wabash.  Go.  Trust me.

After breakfast, Tiffany and I headed to South Bend and the University of Notre Dame.  (We made a quick detour so I could check Michigan off my list of states I've been to.....these pictures combined with Uncle Buddy's facebook post of "How did we end up in Michigan?  Tiffany was driving!" caused some concern amongst family members back home.) 

First stop was the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore.  I entered thinking about buying a couple of t-shirts for my children and grandchildren.  A couple hundred collars later, I was able to leave that bookstore, but I tell you, it was an amazing place.  (In my experience you might as well just open your wallet and fork over $200 bucks if you set foot in that building!)  The people I had met so far in my visit made me feel that I was part of this fine University. 

The Golden Dome

Tiffany and I put our purchases in the car and then took a walk around the campus.  First excitement was that I ran into the Notre Dame cheerleaders and Leprechaun, and of course, had my picture taken with them. 

He posted this on FB to let my aunt know he had found the cheerleaders!

Along our walk, we were stopped by one of the Alumni driving a golf cart around giving rides to whose who looked like they needed one.  Along the way, we got to talking and he served in Vietnam with the U.S. Navy.  (Uncle Buddy served in Vietnam as well and the reason we were offered the ride was that the guy saw his purple heart jacket.)

Trumpets Under the Dome

Touchdown Jesus

On Saturday, we met up with my new niece, Rozann, and her friend and walked over the campus while we waited for the football game to begin.  What a dream come true.  We had excellent seats, right up from where the team comes at the end of the game to sing their Alma Mater.

Pre-game group photo

Bagpipers on campus

Uncle Buddy and Rozann with First Down Moses



Game Time!

Uncle Buddy in the stadium.

Push ups after a TD

Uncle Buddy recording the Alma Mater

(But wait, kids, the fun wasn't over yet!)  Long story short, we were fortunate to be offered to take a tour of Notre Dame stadium on Sunday morning.  When this came about, Tiffany told me that I would probably have to pull her off the benches in the locker room if we got in there.  (I think what I said was that I might get so excited that I'd pass out...)  On Sunday morning, we met up with the head man for a stadium tour.  What excitement!  And, of course, Tiffany was standing on a stool giving the "Rudy" speech.

"We're gonna get 'em on the run, and we're gonna keep 'em on the run..."

Uncle Buddy in the locker room.

Win one for the Gipper plaque.

We then went to the field to through the tunnel where the players enter and got to slap the sign at the bottom of the stairs that reads, "Play Like a Champion Today." 

 

The field was magical.  To stand on that turf, closing your eyes, you could actually hear the greats.  Coaches like Knute Rockne, Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine, and Lou Holtz.  Players like The Four Horsemen (Stuhldreher, Crowley, Miller and Layden), Angleo Bertelli, George Gipp, Dave Casper, Joe Montana, Joe Theismann, Tim Brown, and Paul Hornung.  And if you listened very closely, you could hear the chant, "Rudy, Rudy, Rudy...."

Our tour guide.

A dream fulfilled thanks to my niece, Tiffany.  (There is nothing like taking someone to visit Notre Dame for the first time, especially when they have been a life-long fan like Uncle Buddy!)

On the field at ND Stadium

He's Never Run Through An Airport For Me

"He's never run through an airport for me.  But this ordinary, remarkable love walks slowly every day alongside."  ~Lisa Jo Baker

I'm going to confess it now.  I love a good romantic comedy.  The guy finds the girl that everyone else overlooked and sweeps her off her feet.  The girl has to chose between two equally great men and picks the underdog.  The girl hires a date to make her ex-boyfriend jealous and he rocks out halfway through the movie with the line, "I think I'd miss you even if we'd never met."  Sigh.

So when I stumbled across this blog called, "When you think your love story is boring," I was intrigued.  It's premised on a comment from a teenage girl who said that she would never be satisfied with her love life until the boy ran through an airport to stop her from getting on a flight.  And, so, Lisa Jo Baker set out to write an article that is premised on the admission, "He's never run through an airport for me...."

And several people have picked up on this idea and written their own versions.  So, when in Rome...

My version of He's Never Run Through The Airport For Me...

He's never run through an airport for me.  He never landed us on a stadium jumbotron or written me a poem or professed his love for me on a beach in the middle of a lightning storm.

But he listens when I rant or cry or when I'm so excited about something that I can't help but talking 100 miles a minute.  He encourages me and reminds me to have faith and has never told me to shut up when I need reassurance for the 157th time that someday this long distance thing will come to an end.

He's never run through an airport for me.  He's never sent three dozen roses to my office or taken me to Tiffany's or hit a home run off of a pitch from my ex boyfriend.

But he makes me feel safe and pretty and confident.  He believes in me and appreciates my input and supports the things that are important to me.  Instead of stopping me from getting on an airplane, he'd be telling me to go have the time of my life and that he'd see me when I got back.  Or driving two hours to rescue me when my plane almost crashed and I refused to stay on it.  (Yep.  That happened.)

He's never run through an airport for me.  He hasn't gotten my name tattooed on his arm,  he hasn't sang a song outside my window, and he hasn't scaled a fire escape after crawling out of a limo (I'm also not a hooker, which is a positive as well).

But he holds my hand.  And he kisses my forehead. And he has driven all night just to spend the weekend with me.  He actually enjoys spending time with my family and always makes me laugh and was cool with our first date being to an NRA banquet.  With my parents.  And a convicted felon (who I'm pretty sure wasn't legally supposed to be there...)

He's never run through an airport for me.  And you know, that's just fine by me.  

Because somehow, real life is turning out better than the movies.

Gran Said A Cuss Word!

“Maybe that's why the good Lord gave us these vivid memory capabilities. When stress hits, we can just close our eyes, lean back and relax, and enjoy a game of Tidly-Winks, the sound of a Pete Rose baseball card in the spokes of our bike, or maybe a nice slice of watermelon - with a sprinkle of salt.”  ~Michael Buffalo Smith

Today my friend Jen is hosting a link up called "Soul Food Friday" where people share whatever feeds their soul...go head over to her blog to read some great stories!

I've never really liked Halloween all that much.  Maybe because it steals my birthday thunder.  But there is one Halloween memory that always makes me smile.

Each year, Gran would make popcorn balls for Halloween.  I remember not really liking them that much because they were hard to chew and they hurt my teeth.  But man, was it fun to help with the cooking.

Cooking at Gran's was always an adventure.  She never used a recipe.  She just sort of eyeballed everything.  95% of the time there would be a timeout taken from cooking in order to play with candles and matches on the table (I think now that Gran may have been somewhat of a Pyro....).  And it was never quiet in the house during cooking.  If you were cooking in the early afternoon, Paul Harvey was on the radio; late afternoon, MASH was on tv; if later afternoon, Peter Jennings World News Tonight was playing in the background.  Oh, and it wasn't a complete stop at Gran's without a Kit-Kat mini out of the drawer in the fridge.

So with that scene set, let's move on to our story.

There we were.  Gran, Little Brother, and me, all gathered around the stove.  Gran and Little Brother on one side in the kitchen, and me kneeling on the bar on the other side of the stove.  First order of business was to pop the popcorn.  Gran didn't believe in microwaveable popcorn, so she heated up corn oil in an old silver pot.  Once it got hot, she would pour in the kernels and they would pop.  She had previously measured out the right amount of kernels and put them into a glass measuring cup sitting next to the stove.

When the grease was good at hot (and MASH was probably on a commercial), Gran reached for the measuring cup of kernels to pour them in.  One minor problem.  She grabbed her cup full of coffee rather than the cup of popcorn kernels.  And proceeded to pour that into the hot grease.

Next thing you know it's like an inferno in there--smoke everywhere, smells like fire, smoke detectors going off.  And in the midst of all this, you hear Gran yell, "Damn!"  At that cue, I headed out the front door and started screaming for my dad, who had been working at the shop.  Did I tell him the house was filled with smoke?  Nope.  That the smoke detector wouldn't stop going off?  Nope.  That there may be a fire?  Nope?  What did I yell?  "GRAN SAID A CUSS WORD!  GRAN SAID A CUSS WORD!"

A minor grease fire and the house potentially burning down, I was cool with.  But Gran saying a cuss word?  Heck no, things were NOT okay!

It's probably been 23 years since I left the house screaming about Gran saying a cuss word, but I remember it like it was yesterday.  Those kind of moments--those kind of memories--are what life's about.