Friday, March 25, 2011

Green Beans and Silly Things

One of my favorite memories, of when Jeff and I were dating, is this one evening when Jeff invited me over to his house for dinner. Jeff had prepared for me this amazing meal of baked chicken and rice and what obviously looked like a green vegetable, but I couldn’t quite place it.

Since I’m not much of a vegetable fan (that’s a bit of an understatement), I cautiously sampled a small piece of the green stuff. I was keeping a close eye on Jeff too. I wanted to make sure that he was concentrating on his own plate just in case I needed to discreetly discard the green stuff into my napkin.

To my surprise, I kind of liked it. So I just had to ask, “What is this green stuff? I actually like it.”

Jeff looked at me with an expression I couldn’t discern. Then, with a straight face, he replied, “Green beans.”

That’s just so like him, I thought. His typical dry humor always got me, but not this time.

“No way,” I argued, “I’m not falling for one of your jokes again. I know these aren’t green beans because green beans are short and soggy. But these things are long and crunchy.”

Again, he just looked at me.

I quickly realized that this time, he wasn’t joking. Kindly, he explained it to me. Apparently, they really were green beans. The fresh kind. Steamed.

Who knew? I was 29 years old at the time, and the only green beans I had ever known came in a can.

“A cheerful heart is good medicine.” – Proverbs 17:22

These days, whenever green beans make their way onto our plates – whether at a restaurant or at a potluck or, yes, even at home – we still laugh.

One of the things I love most about Jeff is the way he makes me laugh. We laugh at old stories, at ourselves, and at the funny things our kids say. We laugh a lot. It’s what I like most about our home. We laugh.

Do you have some favorite old stories that still make you laugh whenever you think about them?


D.J.

4 comments:

Warren Baldwin said...

Cool story! Cheryl and I laughed at a story today from our first year of marriage. We have several of them we circulate - about us and the kids and our families. Enough stuff happens to make us frown; it's wise to cherish and frequently recall the humorous ones. Good post.

Beth Herring said...

that's funny DJ. i'm with you - the kind of green beans i eat come straight out of a can!

Faith said...

great story! wow...i cannot imagine eating green beans out of a can...i only do the fresh! and yes..Dave and I have several stories we laugh over....year after year....!

Denise J. Hughes said...

Warren, that's awesome. Stories that make us laugh are so important. A cheerful heart is good medicine - according to the Sage! :)

Beth, it's was all I ever knew. But Jeff has since converted me. :)

Faith, I love that ... "year after year." Praise God!