In fact, we first met her just a few days before the wedding. They arrived in Corpus Christi late in the afternoon. We had been busy all day with wedding details and were all tired. There was no dinner cooked, so we decided to visit our neighborhood Whataburger for a quick dinner.
Each of us stepped up to the counter and placed our order. Travis and Mady stepped up to the counter and he asked her whether she wanted a hamburger or chicken strips. She looked up at him with her innocent 7-year-old eyes and said "I'm a vegetarian!"
He didn't miss a beat. He turned to the young lady behind the counter and asked if they had broccoli, asparagus and other vegetables. The cashier looked a little perplexed and didn't respond at all. Mady quickly said "I don't eat that."
So Travis continued, "You said you're a vegetarian. If you don't eat vegetables, what do you eat?"
Undaunted, Mady replied "COOKIES!"
Travis turned to the young cashier and ordered a Justaburger.
A year later, we saw her again. Katy and Travis were busy so Mady and I were spending a day together. We went shopping. We were at Marshalls and there were a few things she wanted to try on. I told her to come out and show them to me, that I would wait by the entrance to the dressing room. The sales clerk who was checking people into the dressing room asked "Are you shopping with your grandmother?" As she held up her hand between us, she replied, "She's not my grandmother. She's nothing to me." I will admit, I felt a little stung by those words. But I told her that it was true I wasn't actually her grandmother and we could just be good friends.
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| Mady & Grams dancing at her 13th birthday party. |
