My Aunt Vi Moment...

... I loved my Great Aunt Vi. In all truth, I must confess that she was probably a grumpy old lady. I know there was some kind of family rift, but no one ever really explained it to me, and I was a kid, so I probably wouldn't have cared anyway. What I do know is that she loved me enough to put 8 x 10 photographs of me on the wall (all my cousins pics. were out of sight somewhere) and to come to my graduation party and wedding in the same summer (even though she wouldn't go to other people's events... even if they only had one). It probably didn't hurt my status as "favorite great niece" any that I got married on her birthday... and I have spent my entire adult life trying to recreate her Christmas sugar cookies (and I am close)!

So today our family decided to eat at the Papa John's buffet after "building church". We ate until we were stuffed beyond anything reasonable, and then a Papa John's employee came out and asked if we wanted her to make anything special (we were the only ones there). "Special" to us is plain cheese, so I asked for it, even though I really didn't need to eat another bite (in my defense, I hadn't had any pizza, whatsoever... only a ridiculous number of cheesesticks... and breadsticks... and cinnamon sticks... and a whole lot of Cherry Coke, even though I have pretty much given up pop again since Miah's birth).

By the time the cheese pizza was ready; Phil, Seth, Grace, and Caleb were definitely done eating. They went out to the van (and took Miah, too), leaving just me and Ian. We ate a few bites each of cheese pizza, realized that there was no way we could consume any more without exploding, cleaned up the booth, and got ready to leave. It was at this point that I looked down at the table and realized we had taken far too many Papa John's spice packs, and there was still an unopened container of cheese sauce, too. And for just a moment, I wondered what I should do about this...

Seeing as I love both products (and they can't serve them to anyone else after we've touched them, right?), I began to stuff seasoning packs into my jeans pockets (I mean really stuff)... and as a last minute decision, I threw the cheese in there, too... And this huge smile spread over my face as I thought of Aunt Vi and the many restaurants that found themselves short of jelly after she dined there and filled her purse... She would have been proud today...

Lisa