Food, Family, Friends, and a FIERCE game of Corn Hole

(Preface: This blog is really just a journal about our recent trip to Ohio, and probably going to get pretty lengthy, so you might want to grab a Coke, or if you live north of the Mason-Dixon Line, get a pop...settle in to a comfy spot and enjoy my ramblings.)

Have you ever noticed how memories can be catagorized into three groups? MOST memories (and I am FULLY aware that there are some exceptions) fall in to one of three groups: food, family, or friends. Sometimes, those even overlap. I realized this little fact is very true when I started reminiscing about my recent trip to Ohio.

Ever heard of Dry Ridge, Kentucky? Probably not. With a population of 2,191, it's not exactly a booming metropolis. However, it is one of my husband's FAVORITE places. Know why? Because it is home to the FIRST Skyline restaurant between here and Cincinnati. We have stopped there SEVERAL times on our visits up north. This most recent trip was no exception. So what if it was 10:20 in the morning!!! There is NEVER a bad time for Skyline (according to Rog). For those of you who, like me until six years ago, have never even HEARD of Skyline, let me try to explain. Cincinnati style chili has meat in it, but no beans. It is more of a sauce consistency than what WE think of as chili, but no beans.  It's also kinda sweet (it has cinnamon and some has chocolate in it). And it doesn't have beans in it!!! Crazy, right??? Anyway....that's not even the really weird part! What makes this chili a Cincinnati (and surrounding areas) icon, is what they put it ON. Are you ready for this? They put it on spaghetti!! Yeah...I know. Anyway. There are several restaurant chains that serve this concoction, but two are the real heavy hitters: Skyline and Gold Star. But let me tell you...there is a HUGE chasm between these two establishments. You are EITHER a Skyline fan OR a Gold Star fan. You can NOT like them both! I think there is some kind of unwritten law or something. As it happens, my husband's family is totally sold out to Skyline.

So what should one expect when one ventures into a Skyline for the first time? Let me try to give you the short version.
3-way=spaghetti, chili, and cheese ( a LOT of cheese, very finely shredded and PILED on top)
4 way= spaghetti, chili, cheese, and onions OR beans (yeah...they don't put beans IN the chili, they put them on TOP of the chili....bizarre)
5 way=spaghetti, chili, cheese, onion AND beans
I've had it. I don't like it. If I remember correctly, the first time I had Skyline, Rog and I weren't married yet. When I announced that I wasn't a fan, I really wondered if our marriage was going to happen. The other really popular thing at Skyline is the coney (hot dog). It's just a hot dog...little mustard, chili sauce, and a MOUND of shredded cheese. I mean...it's a HOT DOG for goodness sake. I fixed hot dogs last night....they were MUCH better than Skyline...just sayin'.

So, our trip to Ohio was really on its way when we were able to stop in Dry Ridge and get Rog 3 little coneys for breakfast.

This trip was different from ones we have made in the past because this trip, we were going to Columbus (before Cincinnati). For those of you who don't know (and really don't care) about ANYTHING related to Big 10 athletics, Columbus is home to THE Ohio State University. Anyone who has been around my husband for longer than about three minutes KNOWS he is a die-hard, to-the-core, bleed scarlet and gray Ohio State fan. So this was a MUCH anticipated journey to the holy land for Rog. However, Columbus is also where Rog began in full time ministry MANY years ago. I figured out that I would have been in Rog's junior high group when he was a youth pastor. I know...that's weird. Anyway...this leg of our trip was going to be a little odd for me because this was the one area of Rog's life I had not yet seen. We were going to go to the church where he served, the Wednesday night we got in town. You know how it is in churches like that. Although Rog has been gone from there over 25 years, there would be people STILL there who would remember him. However, he was not married to me when he was there. Wasn't real sure how that was going to fly.
But I'm getting a little ahead of myself. The REALLY cool thing that happened was that a day or two before our trip, a group of his former teenagers threw together a meeting at one of the local pizza restaurants. Right around 15 of his core group showed up!!!It was SO awesome!! I got to see first hand how much Rog meant to these people. I know I had three or four of them come up to me and say " I don't know where I would be today without him." And seeing him interact with them...wow. SO cool!!!  I had never met these people in my life, but I left that pizza place feeling like I had just spent an hour with friends. That hour and a half was SUPER special for lots of people. Talk about a memory!!
So why would I share that particular story on my blog? I share it because it shows the depth of the impact that investing in people's lives can have. So many tmes we get too busy doing stuff.. it may be important stuff...but it's still just stuff. What are we doing that is going to have any long term significance? There is a young married couple at our church (Josh and Michelle, LOVE you guys!!) who is doing this. They are investing in the lives of our young people. Doing things the kids like to do. Spending TIME with them. Developing a relationship with them. This investment is going to pay HIGH dividends some day! God used Rog to impact people's lives. That's stinkin' awesome!!

Ok. On with the trip. We went to church right after the meeting with the former teens. As I said earlier, this was the part of the trip I was MOST nervous about. I knew there were some Debbie fans in this church, and I, ummm, am NOT Debbie. So how was I going to be received? I am happy to say I was received very graciously. There might have been a few whispers going on behind my back, but to my face, everyone was very kind. This was another very cool thing for Rog.

The next morning, we met another of Roger's friends for breakfast at Bob Evans. For those of you who've never been...think Yankee version of Cracker Barrel. It was ok.

After breakfast, we began our trek to (angels begin singing)....THE Ohio State University campus. I have to admit, I was a TINY little bit excited. I mean, it's a COLLEGE campus....an institution of higher learning...lots of really smart people roam around college campuses. So I knew it was going to be kinda cool. We got to go to Conrads, the place for ANYTHING you could POSSIBLY want/need Ohio State. I got a few things for the Buckeye room. And then, we got to go to the stadium. I never dreamed we would get to go IN. But we did!! DANG that place is big!!!! Of course it doesn't hold the same allure for me as Bryant-Denny, but hey...that's ok. My big guy was a happy happy boy. That's what was important to me. Got to see some neat things....took some cool pictures. Good day.

But alas...it was time to head on to Cincy. Roast beef and mashed potatoes awaited....oh wait. I guess that should be Mom and Dad Miracle awaited... So here we go back to a food memory.
Now I gotta tell ya...my mom-in-law is a fantastic cook. So I figured her roast beef and mashed potatoes were probably going to be pretty good. OH. MY. WORD.
You know how when you're starving you could pour a little gravy on some shoe leather and it would taste good? But when you aren't SUPER hungry, but ready to eat, the food has to be really good to be, well...  really good?THAT'S where I was. Not starving...but ready to eat. And MAN oh MAN oh MAN!!! Amanda threw DOWN some roast and potatoes!!!! It was amazing!!! And what did she make for dessert? ONLY my absolute FAVORITE thing in the world!!  Homemade banana pudding!!! It. smelled. so. good. But, I didn't have any. Not a bite. At all. (****sigh****)

Saturday was really the main reason for our whole trip. And this is the third category of memories. It was Rog's family reunion/80th birthday celebration for his dad.  Of course there was lots of great food (imagine that!), but this day was all about...family. Now remember, I've only been a part of this "Miraculous" group of people for six years. There were lots of people at the reunion I didn't know, but I was very happy that I knew a whole lot more this year than I did last year.
All of Rog's aunts and his uncle are all 70+ years old. They are absolutely precious!! Aunt Emma recently published a book detailing her battle with depression. Amazing woman.
Uncle Cecil, 90 years old and legally blind and Elsa, also 90 with a thick German accent, take care of each other so sweetly.  And Aunt Betty still makes an unbelievable chocolate cake.

One of my favorite memories was Ralph's face when he saw the sign and the table with all the birthday celebration stuff on it. He is just the CUTEST!!!! I rigged his "birthday crown" so that it was attached to his ball cap. He wore it the WHOLE time we were there.  How many 80th birthdays do we really get to celebrate? Not many...this is one I will certainly remember forever.

 Then there are all the cousins...wow....I can't begin to name them all. They are just all so wonderful.
The entire day was just perfect. You know the "warm all over" feeling you get when you're with people you love? Well I had that.

After the reunion, we  went back to Rog's parent's house. The family fun continued as all Rog's neices and nephews came in. That's when it began. What is "it", you ask? Well, "it" was a majorly intense Corn Hole tournament. Although I didn't play, it was a BLAST watching everyone get into the game. I can honestly say I have never seen anyone play Corn Hole. I didn't even know what the game was. Aparently, I have really been missing something.

After the "tourny" was over, Rog wanted to go to Skyline one last time. A couple of his nephews, one of his nieces and his son went with us. Rog made a comment on the way (talking to Jessica, his niece) that they were the only neices and nephews I would ever have. I had never really thought about that, but it's true. My sister and her husband have, for several reasons,  chosen not to have children. So, my role as "aunt" is exclusively for Rog's neices and nephews. And what an AWESOME group of kids these guys are!! (I say kids...they range in age from 20-27 years old!!) I'm in a weird spot with them too though. I wasn't around when they were little. I wasn't a part of birthdays or graduations. So it's a little weird for them to call me "Aunt Kim".
But you know what? I am finding out that it really doesn't matter. I am in their family now. And I gotta tell ya...I REALLY like it when they call me "Aunt Kim".

This trip to Ohio was just fantastic. Lots of good food, great friends, and awesome family. It just doesn't get any better than that!