Pictures Worth a Thousand Tears

Last night we were honored with the presence of some of my old friends who I don't get to see very often.  Prior to my life with Gllen, my friends Christen and Andy and I had a weekly dinner club... where every Tuesday night, Andy would cook for us, and we'd sit around laughing and eating the whole night.  We had a good run at this dinner club, but as usual, life takes its twists and turns and we couldn't expect it to last forever... Andy became a father, Christen moved out of state, and I started dating a Gllen.

I pretty much lucked out - I found my own live-in-chef who makes me delicious meals, makes me laugh and in general keeps my spirits up.  Everyone should get to have Dinner Club forever. So, I was really excited to see my old gang, and introduce Gllen to the people who I spent a few formative years in my twenties with.  They have good stories to tell.

Gllen is a good listener - he doesn't usually interrupt a story.  So he absorbed a LOT of chatter about the good old days.  At one point he told the group, "It was really interesting to hear that story unfold. Pretty much all I heard was, 'That was the WORST night of my life.... did you WRITE that poem?' and whatever happened, it sounds amazing."  I really enjoy seeing life through the Gllen Lens sometimes.

The highlight of the evening was when we gathered back at our house for some late-night drinks and decided to play a board game... Gllen's new favorite game... Telestrations.  It's basically like pictionary combined with a game of telephone. Anyway, this game, without fail, makes Gllen laugh so hard that he CRIES. I think we all did.  But Gllen's laughter is so genuine, so joyful, that you can't help laughing when he does.  He was sitting next to Amanda, one of our guests, and drawing and cracking up so hard at his own art that he would get Amanda giggling, which in turn makes me laugh and it was went around in circles from there.

My favorite Gllen drawing from the night was his rendering of the word "cuddle".  I present it to you here... the more I look at it, the more I am amazed. I've blacked out the word so you can play along and make your own guess... to reveal the answer, simply highlight the blacked out text.

And for fun, here's one more... the secret phrase is "water off a duck's back".

Grandpa Meets Gllen

My grandfather was in town and wanted to see our new house, so we invited him over for dinner. I tasked Gllen with creating the feast, but did a little research beforehand. I asked my grandfather, "What do you like to eat?"

"Oh, I like pretty much what your dad likes." He responded. I figured we'd be in the clear then, because my dad likes just about anything. But to be safe, I asked him what kinds of cheeses he likes. You don't want to serve a blue cheese to someone who's scared of visible cheese mold. He said, "Oh, no I don't eat cheese. The doctor doesn't let me." Ummmm... good to know.

I decided to cover my bases further by calling my dad and asking him what kinds of things Grandpa would like. He filled me in further, "He can't eat a lot of sugar. If it's sugar free, he'll eat it. And he doesn't like any exotic foods. Don't get too fancy. Meat and potatoes, that kind of thing. Oh, and he can't eat any lettuces except iceberg." Oooookaaaaay. Good thing I checked.

So, I told Gllen the requirements and we came up with a menu that any midwesterner would approve of: Prime Rib with Horseradish Cream Sauce, Mashed Potatoes and Cucumbers in a Sour Cream Dill Dressing.

As we sat down to eat, Grandpa dished himself up a tiny little nibble of the cucumber salad. Come to find out, he doesn't like cucumbers! But he was being nice and trying it, so as not to hurt our feelings.

Three seconds later, he was dishing up a healthy scoop of the cucumber salad. "Wow!" He said, "I never knew cucumbers were so good!"

Having had success with the cucumbers, he decided to try the Horseradish Cream Sauce. We learn that he's never had horseradish because "It sounds gross." A little daub of it on his prime rib and he was in heaven! He ate several helpings of the food that he claimed to dislike. In fact, when I offered him more cucumbers he said, "I'm sure Bea (his recently deceased wife) is rolling over in her grave right now." He took a bite cucumber. "I'm so sorry Bea!" He at more, still apologizing to the ghost of his wife.

We feasted and feasted. Grandpa ate more helpings and said, "I'm going to pig out, this is just too good! Mark you are very talented!"

Later, with full bellies, we retired to the living room to wind down the evening. At one point, I asked Grandpa a question and he didn't hear me, he was staring at the wall. Someone got his attention and he said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I was reminiscing about the meal I just had." I chuckled at that. We hadn't even finished eating five minutes before and he was already thinking back fondly on Gllen's cooking. "My whole life," he continued "I've never eaten a cucumber, and now I'm wishing I had started sooner!" At 87 years old, stubborn about everything, he was converted by Gllen.

As he got ready to leave, he shook Gllen's hand and told him how wonderful he thought the food was. He told me he was very proud of our house and all the work we had done. Then he gave me a hug and whispered in my ear, "You hold on to that one!"