Sweet wine

All in all, it has been a good evening. We had dinner and Bible study at Church and both were much-needed after a long day of work. Before dinner I enjoyed chatting with one of our favorite people, 11-year-old Maddie. She is quite mature - with her intellect and speech I believe she could pass for 15. In fact, one of the topics she and I discussed was our perception of eachother's age. That and her brand new pet as of today - a black rabbit named Starbuck. Maddie stopped mid-sentence and said, "How old are you?" I told her I'll be 31 this November. She said, "Wow! You could pass for 15." I literally clapped my hands, smiled wide, and yipped, "Excellent!" I explained that most adult women want to look younger; Maddie then explained that her contemporaries want to look like teenagers. Maddie is getting there; when she walked into the dining hall I thought to myself, "Sweet Lord, she is a young lady!" Maddie has long blond hair and elfen beauty. Seriously, when the movie Fellowship of the Rings came out Johnny and I told Maddie she looked like an elf and we meant it most complimentary. Maddie's Daddy Thadd better get ready. Maddie is my prime choice for a future babysitter, by the way.

Maddie's astonishment of my dignified age reminded me of two Sundays ago. I was running a tad late for Church (what a shocker) and I walked up to the Church doors as two of my friend Allie's children arrived. One of them was her older son, Christian. I spruced up more than usual that Sunday in my peasant/hippie light blue blouse, my favorite black peasant skirt, black Mary Jane shoes, and I straightened my hair. (I was even wearing earrings - big day for me) Christian peered over his sunglasses, sized up my hair minus the usual ponytail and said, how old are you anyway? When I told him 30 he said, "Cool. Good age." We then proceeded into Church. I should mention that Christian's grandmother, LaVaun, sat behind me that day, recently home after a vacation to Paris. After the service I turned around to say hello and she said, "Skirts like yours are all the rage in Paris right now - everyone is wearing them." I'd love to be wearing my favorite black skirt in Paris right now! Johnny would rather not be in Paris but if he were he'd be wearing a gallon-sized cowboy hat and leather cowboy boots calling all the Parisians "little buddy." Tonight LaVaun told me she went to Paris "to get away from bullshit." Bullshit being her home flooding as the ceiling fell in and all the crap that comes along with schoolteaching. When she couldn't take it anymore she put the plane fare on her credit card, found a spontaneous friend, and they left the country two days later!

OK, so as Gloria was tending to altar duty before dinner tonight she accidentally lost the lid to our sweet Communion wine - she dropped it down the sink's drain. We all thanked her profusely and drank up along with a dinner of Gloria's signature salad and pizza that someone ordered. A few of the men also enjoyed a glass of Shiner Bock. Did I mention our Church has Shiner Bock on tap? As our priest Rusty was eating and drinking wine he said, "Gloria, I think you should lose the lid to the wine every week!"

One last thing: the Simmons toast to the band Nickel Creek. I heard their new song "Best of Luck" during my drive home. (Thanks again, Paste.) That song ain't bluegrass! I personally love bluegrass but I also LOVE when a band is able to reinvent themselves musically and do it well - my husband concurs with this sentiment 100%. To our ears it sounds as if Nickel Creek has been listening to Alice in Chains and classic rock. I replayed the song numerous times - I cannot believe this is the same bluegrass band we heard on Austin City Limits on Saturday. Nickel Creek is ridiculously young (I think 24-27 years old) to play as well as they do and as long as they have (around 16 years). I must have their new album, Why Should the Fire Die?