the simple life.

So, it had been a while since I'd seen Grammy and Papa, which is not okay. Thus, to fix that dilemma, I was going to go down and visit Papa two weeks ago. Grammy and my mom had gone to the west coast for my cousin's graduation, but Papa refused to go. He said that it would be more fun for Grammy if Mom went. Really, he just wanted to have a week all to himself. Anyway, I called him on Wednesday because I was going to go down and have dinner with him or spend the night since he'd been all alone all week. His response was:

Papa: Wellll, maybe you should just come next week when Grammy is back. I'm going to the Lion's Club for dinner on Thursday and I know Grammy would really like to see you.

Julie: Are you scared to hang out with me by yourself, Papa?

Papa: (chuckled) Yes, I'm terrified.

So, I waited a week and headed down for dinner the other night instead. When I called Grammy to tell her Mom and I were coming down to see them, she asked me if I wanted to eat dinner at the house or eat dinner out. However, we both know that Papa makes the final decision and it didn't really matter where either of us wanted to eat, because Papa likes to go to Kline's in Rosebud, MO. And that's where we went.

We all ordered the same thing: grilled catfish, green beans, a baked potato, hushpuppies and a roll. Except Papa got applesauce instead of green beans. And it was so good. Kline's makes the best rolls that I've ever tasted. Sure, that sounds like an exaggeration, but it isn't. Ask Grammy. Whenever we eat at Kline's, Grammy gets a napkin and wraps up her roll and any extra pieces of roll from other peoples' plates and takes them home. She says they make great toast in the morning. And they do. I can vouch for that.

After we ate, as if we hadn't eaten enough already, we went back to Grammy and Papa's and ate a fresh strawberry pie that Grammy made especially for us. And it was good. Really good. I wasn't going to put ice cream on mine because I figured I would cut back on calories, but then Papa came in and said:

Papa: Aren't you going to put some ice cream on there?

Julie: No, I wasn't going to.

Papa: But did you see what kind I bought? Lactose free.

Julie: You bought special ice cream for me!? You're the best. Pass it over.

I'm glad I put the ice cream on. Ice cream is probably one of my favorite things ever created. I don't know why I even thought about skipping it.