Those Were the Days

I can't believe we have been married 16 years. It seems like they have flown by. What fun we have when we are lucky enough to be together.

Frank and I met in Bloomington, Indiana in the basement of the campus library building. We were introduced by Tony Stamtopolis who had learned that Frank was taking five (count'em, 5!!) graduate classes during an eight-week summer session. For the uninitiated, that is like taking ten graduate classes (or 30 graduate units) during the regular semester. Everyone thought he would burnout completely from the stress. Since I was taking three classes (like 18 graduate units) and thought that was a lot, I was also interested in watching what happened when he finally lost his cool and succumbed to the pressure. He never did loose it! Infact, he had time after studying nearly everyday to meet at Penguins, an ice cream shack, and talk. We talked about kids, family, politics, religion, teachers. It was invigorating to find someone close to my age withwhom I could talk about these things with.

Then it was time to go home.

Table tennis, anyone?

My sister and I hid from the rest of the family these past two weeks and built a table from a 4 x 4 sheet of ply wood. We cut off the corners to create an octagonal table top (well, actually Pop used his skill saw to cut them off for us). We then auditioned ceramic, glass, beads, and broken vessels for the top until we felt the pattern was just right.

Pop kept coming over to offer advice and cringe as he watched us. I think it was harder on him watching than it was for Risa and me to put the top together. Since Risa was super stressed from her own problems, I let her use the hammer to break up the tiles, cups, mirrors and vases used for the color enhancements. We also found a bag of alphabet beads that were used to seed words throughout the patterned edges. What fun we had!

Family names were included as well as pastimes like baseball teams and 'who's on first.' Since I took Mom, Dad, and Risa to see CARS, it is included to remind me of the movie and the great time we had. As you can see, it is in the shape of an octopus. Well, again, it is more in the shape of a brittle star with eight legs (but who's counting?) to remind me we also saw the second install to Pirates of the Caribbean. I guess I like movies.

We trimmed the edge with half-round, glued down the tiles or what-have-you, grouted the whole thing, then topped it all off with $60.00 worth of epoxy. Boy were we proud of it!

Then I had everyone over for dinner...my first mistake.

The table looked wonderful all dressed with my beautiful everyday china, recently unpacked. The stemware held just the right amound of ice and water. The new silverware gleamed next to the plates and the filled serving dishes added color, all which became a feast for the eye.

My husband, Frank, decided to have a second helping and tried to move the plate. It didn't budge. He used both hands, again, it didn't budge. He stood and with both hands grasping the edges of the plate pulled until the plate became unstuck from the table top. After that, we all tried and found that all our plates and even our water glasses were stuck to the top of the table. Risa and I melted into a puddle of giggles and snickers. It seemed right out of a B comedy.

After I cleaned up the table, I checked to see what lasting damage had been done to the table top, but all the marks from the ceramic plates and glasses, were gone. The top remained smooth. I haven't had the courage to use the top since, just incase everything still sticks to it. Now, it sits pleasantly in my kitchen just looking sweet, but useless. I'll keep you posted.