LOL! #2: The Potato

One day, while on the way to school (where I taught 5th grade) my cell phone rang. It was my cousin, Chrissy, inviting me over to her house that evening for dinner. It seemed that her husband had to work late, so she was going to be able to cook us a strictly vegetarian meal. I remember telling her that I couldn't confirm until I saw how my day played out.

At lunchtime, I checked my phone messages: Chrissy wanted to know if I had made my mind up yet.

After school, yet another message: "Are you coming? Jake (her 1 year old son) really wants to see you!!" I called her back and said that I was just so busy with school, I didn't think I would be able to make it. I was exhausted. It was a grueling day. She laid on the charm (and guilt)--"O, come on. Jake wants to see his Aunt Donna, and I'm going to cook up a special vegetarian meal just for you!"

I decided that the appropriate thing to do would be to spend dinner with Chrissy and her son. After all, Chrissy is the kind of friend that one would die for. She's kind, friendly, considerate, and extremely funny! After all of the incredible things that she'd done for me over the years, I figured I could muster up enough energy to dine with her and Jake that evening.

I arrived at her house around 6pm. I hadn't eaten a thing since noon, and I was famished! I was met at the door by Jake, who reached up and gave me a big hug. I kicked my shoes off in the hall corridor, dropped my bag on an empty kitchen chair, and sat down to eat. I looked down and noticed that my dinner had already been served: a potato. A run of the mill Idaho potato. With nothing on it. No cheese, no broccoli; strictly potato.

I looked up at Chrissy waiting for the punchline. She blushed.

"I'm sorry. I thought I had veggie burgers, but I didn't."

I looked down at the potato, and then back up at Chrissy. "You begged me to come over for dinner to eat a potato?"

She shrugged her shoulders, a bit embarrassed.

"You left me five messages on my cell phone begging me to come over for this special vegetarian meal?"

"It's a good potato," she retorted.

"Well," I said, "Do you have any barbecue sauce? I love potatoes with barbecue sauce."

I smothered my potato in barbecue sauce, and I'll tell you something--that was the best darn potato I ever ate!

That infamous potato has been the source of so much laughter over the years. We still talk about it to this day. If you comb through the 'Comments' links on this blog, you'll see its legend lives on.