14. Cherrios

I don't often listen to other people's conversations. I believe this is because the monologue going on in my head is too loud for me to hear anything else. The other day though, I was at a church rummage sale and couldn't help but overhear these two women speaking. The first woman said that she had heard that in order to grow you need to be open to new experiences.  The second woman responded,  "Yea, like when me and Harold went to that Christmas party. If we wouldn't have gone we would have never met that Jewish couple."

People are different out here. There is no judgment associated with that it is just an observation. I think, perhaps, life is so much simpler that people lack the necessity for pretense.

One day Nick and I were having a conversation with one of Whitewright's police officers. He was an attractive man probably in his late 20's. We spent a bit of time discussing dogs and children; rattling off cute experiences concerning each. His daughter was similar in age to Linus and already potty trained. The lack of necessity for diapers now thrilled him. Of course, Linus isn't trained yet and I don't think he will feel the need to be so until he understands it is hampering his ability to live a happier more productive life. Nick quickly told the officer how simple potty training Caden was and how different an experience it has been with Linus. "With Caden, I just threw a handful of cheerios in to the toilet and asked him to pee on them," Nick told the officer. Caden laughed in the background at a cute story about himself as a baby. The officer responded with a smile and said, "My dad did the same thing for me". He then paused and continued, "Except he used cigarette butts."


A clear lack of pretense. In the city, dads will use cigarette butts too, they would just tell everyone they were cheerios.