Basket Beer

We had guests tonight.   My mother’s best friend, JoAnn, and one of our long-time friends came to town because JoAnn is having knee replacement surgery tomorrow.   JoAnn offered to get Chinese food for us so we could have dinner at home and do some catching up.

She and Carolyn arrived shortly before their son, one of my childhood best friends, made it to town so he could be with his mother for the surgery.   Dinner arrived via delivery and we all sat down to a cacophony of conversation that can only happen when friends get together and children are added into the mix.

My children can be rambunctious but tonight they were on their best manners, raising their hands to have a turn to talk and not yelling, whining or quarreling.   Richard brought some fresh cherry tomatoes from their garden and a bowl of them was passed around with my daughter eating the lion’s share of them.

Ice cream sandwiches were had by the children and those that were children at heart and then Aunt Jo left to get some sleep before her surgery tomorrow.   My daughter and son very much like their adopted aunt and were sad to see her go.   They also love Richard.   My daughter gave him a nickname tonight because he brought a basket of tomatoes and drank beer with dinner.   She loves making up nicknames for people and insisted his name was, “Richard Basket Beer” as she prepared for bed and brushed her teeth.

I think Richard is checking on her in her bed because she didn’t want to go to sleep without saying goodnight.   We’re all hopeful for the best possible outcome with JoAnn’s surgery tomorrow.   She’s been in a lot of pain and the knee replacement surgery is coming none too soon.

The Big Boy Update:  My son wanted to know what would happen if the sun went away.   I talked to him about the earth’s rotation and how the sun would come back around.   No, that’s not what he meant, he told me; he meant if the sun completely went away.    He suggested batteries and flash lights and I explained how that wouldn’t last that long and it would get cold.   He suggested we turn up the heat and I said that we wouldn’t be able to keep the heat on without the sun’s energy to keep the earth warm on a daily basis.   There wasn’t a satisfactory ending to the conversation but I tried to help him understand; I remembered wondering the same thing when I was a child.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was eating lunch and asked, “does this meat come from chickens or cows?”  My husband told her she was eating chicken.   She said, “but I thought chickens came from cows?”  My husband explained saying, “chickens come from chickens”.   She then asked, “does this mean I’m eating the body of a chicken?”  Yes, my husband told her.   “Yuck” she said, and then continued to eat.

Gigi’s Declaration:  My best friend’s daughter had a saying that made me laugh so much I had to write it down.   She’s two days younger than my daughter and has been potty trained for several years now.   But she isn’t completely trained she said as she told her mother after a particularly gassy day, “I’m potty trained, I’m not fart trained”.