Once Upon a Time

Yes, I know most stories that start out this way are made up or fairy tales.  The good part is this is a true story.

When I was in the ninth grade or so, I had a good friend Sheila that I had kind of a crush on.  It was long before I had even held hands with a girl let alone kiss one.  Because of eating some of her mother's chicken at a church social, I really wanted to manage to get an invitation to a Sunday dinner.  Her mother was a cook that knew her way around a stove and could make some chicken that beat the Colonel's stuff all over the place.

I am not sure how I managed to make it happen, but one Sunday I managed to get an invite and her mother made some of that wonderful chicken.  I am sure that there were all the normal things with the chicken, but nothing could supplant that chicken for being the lead item at the lunch.  I'm sure that I made a fool of myself and after lunch we all went in to the living room to have a pleasant chat after lunch.

I'm not sure how or why, but her mother kinda got serious and looked at us and said, "You two are way too young to be getting serious"  Sheila looked at her mother and said, "Mother, I am older right now than you were when you had me."  I didn't know what to say or to do.

I am pretty sure that fairly soon after that announcement I managed to find a way to beat a hasty retreat.  Here they were talking about marriage and children and all I wanted was a chicken dinner.   It was not that long after that I met a sweet girl and Sheila met Dwayne who she later married. 

The moral of this story is to be careful what you ask for, chicken dinners can lead to talk way beyond what you expect.

MUD