November 11, 2008

Dinner Conversation

Many years ago when T was in medical school at U of Iowa we had some new neighbors we wanted to befriend and so we invited them to our home for dinner. We hadn't been seated for long when our oldest son N (then about 5yrs old) stated quite matter of factly that "yeah... we have A LOT of problems at our house." Visions of me chasing him around our townhouse trying to get him to put his boots on before we were late for school swam through my head and it was quite the ice-breaker for our family and theirs. Of coarse we all laughed it off good-naturedly but I do recall feeling a bit of distancing on their part. No matter- their loss! I was reminded of this incident when last night our beloved N (always the center of attention- I call it the N show) chose to poke fun at our host during dinner at a friend's house last night. Here's how the conversation went. BTW we were at the lovely home of D and S (D is the husband who has been trying to get in shape lately but can't seem to keep up with his wife S who is a great runner and exercises daily). So the scene is at the dinner table (once again the usual stage for the N show).

D-"So N, I hear you ran cross country this year, how did you like it?"
N-"I really enjoyed it"
D-"How far did you run during your meets"
N-"3.5 miles-it's like a 5K"
D-"and how fast did you do that in?" (D is somewhat competitive)
N-"My fastest time at the end of the season was just over 24 minutes"
D-"Nice job"
D's Daughter M chimes in and tells us her fastest mile time- I don't remember what it was (I am not that competitive).
D-"I may not run as fast as M but I make the mile look pretty darn good just by the way I run it baby!"
N-"Yeah- it's like a mile-long cat walk for you eh?"
Me-"Snort-laugh"
D-sorta offended "That wasn't funny"
Me-embarrassed... hoping they will still be our friends...

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