Finding delight

This is a picture of my parents, er....my Mom and Santa Claus...circa 1993.  

  (Don't let my mom's rockin' sweater fool you.  That sucker is straight outta the 80's and a castoff of my sister's.  My mom was way too practical to let a perfectly good sweater with giant snowflakes plastered across the front of it go to waste.  But, I digress.)

This is a picture of my parents circa 1993.

I love this picture.

My parents have been married for 38 1/2 years and they like each other a lot.  I have seen evidence of that fact countless times throughout my life.  He opens the door for her, always.  She puts brown sugar and marshmallows on the sweet potatoes at Christmas because, though she does not like sweet potatoes that way, he does.  He brings home cashew caramel clusters on ordinary days that are not a special occasion at all, and they are just for her.  She mows the lawn every week so he can putter in the garage after work, instead of cutting the grass.

Etcetera.

I know there is no one on earth they'd rather be with than each other.

Now, this is not to say that they don't love being with their children and grandchildren.  I know they completely delight in us.

But, I love more that they delight in each other. I feel so fortunate to have parents who like each other that much.

And this picture managed to capture the essence of that delight perfectly.

I hope we can all be so lucky.

Sometimes you feel like a nut

And sometimes you don't, apparently.

I've been running subjects through a little pre-dissertation experiment this past week.  Just a quick little study that undergraduate students have been coming into the lab to complete for me.  Sitting on the table, all week, has been The Cabbage out of which I have invited all to take a treat after they're finished, if they so desire.

Yesterday, I noted the state of The Cabbage.

(Yes, that is a melamine Cabbage bowl. Hands down the best thing I've ever found at a Value Village.)

Apparently, no one has any love for the Almond Joy anymore.

This is something I cannot understand.  Almond Joys are delicious!  Coconutty, chocolately, almondy, YUM.  Because I know you're dying to know, the Almond Joys were up against Reese's peanut butter cups, Kit kat bars, and plain ol' hershey's chocolate in this particular smorgasboard.  Now, Reese's peanut butter cups are clearly the heavyweight in this mix, but Almond Joys lost to Kit Kat bars?  And Hershey's milk chocolate bars???

Granted, most of these students were young undergraduates who possibly have not honed an affinity for coconut.  While Almond Joys are not at the top of my favorite sweet treat list (that honor goes to Twix, I feel), it is definitely in the top five.


What about you?  Which funsize treat is at the top of your list?  Is there anyone besides me who enjoys the coconutty goodness of Almond Joys anymore???

To be a Cornhusker

When I decided to move to Nebraska to get a doctoral degree just some few short years ago, I got in touch with a former of professor of mine to share the news.  She congratulated me, offered some sage thoughts to get me through the tough times ahead and then casually observed that she'd heard you had to be crazy into college football to be at Nebraska.

In that moment, I think I stared at her and said something along the lines of, "Um, what?"

 This same sentiment was offered so many times, "Ooooh, Nebraska, well...hope you like football!", "Have fun in the land of corn and football", "football, football, football".

I even remember one interchange not long before I moved where I put it together that the "Cornhuskers" my father watched on New Years Day more than once while I was growing up were indeed the same

Cornhuskers I was about to join. 

In that moment, I think I stared ahead and said something along the lines of, "They're those Cornhuskers?!"

I went to my first Nebraska football game on a whim when a friend texted me an hour before the 300th consecutive sellout game and asked if I was interested in going.  I happened to be on campus tailgating with a group from church (which, I need a whole different post to discuss the ridiculousness of a bunch of Mormons tailgating before a huge football game) and opted to tag along.

It is not an understatement to say that nothing could have prepared me for the experience of watching a Nebraska football game.  Live.  With 89,000 of my closest friends.

The energy is palpable.  It gets inside of you.  You can't help but smile dopily and stand on your seat and cheer wildly and wiggle your spirit fingers everytime the kicker gets ready to punt the ball (you would be hardpressed to convince me that there is no correlation between my spirit fingers and the quality of that kick.  Just sayin' is all).  

Not only did the spirit of Nebraska football embed its way into my innocent little heart at that game, Shari stood there beside me and answered every question I had about football, the game, the players, the cheers.  Did you know that there is actually a rhyme or reason to this game?  There is strategy.  You can predict what players are going to do.  It is not just a tousle of huge guys randomly ramming into each other.  There is a point to it all.  I literally had no idea.

We are now halfway through my second year of being a card-carrying-member-of-the-season-ticket-holders club.  I go to every game.  I look up NCAA ratings at the beginning of each week.  I read up on our opponents. I read game summaries and game predictions...on a weekly basis.

Good heavens, I don't even know who I am anymore.

 Everybody now:  GO BIG RED!