Some Words

Well, the first week of working solely on writing has been interesting so far. It started with a lot of chores that needed to be taken care of, and a trip to Iowa. There was a bridal shower and a graduation party to celebrate K’s completion of her degree. She made out like a bandit and I was reminded of how weird ‘salad’ is down there.

As the graduation party was being set up, my future mother in law teased me that she had made a salad with vegetables in it. This may not sound odd to those of you who have never been to northwest Iowa, but let me explain.

There were three salads on offer at this event, all were served with the meal, and desert was a separate event served after. The salads were as such: one pasta salad with carrots and celery, one salad made of vanilla pudding, cool whip, and something peach flavored, and one made of vanilla pudding, cool whip, mandarin oranges, and Keebler Fudge Cookies. The ‘fluf’ salads, as I’ve come to think of them, taste like diabetic coma, and it is a testament to their hearty pioneer constitutions that no one in her family has diabetes. It is a small miracle.

The best part of these events is always when we can bring another person along, someone who has not seen these salads before. I was treated to that wonderful look of cognitive disonance that happens when a person follows a bit of turkey sandwich with some orange flavored fluff, only to bite down on a fudge cookie. On to desert!