Meatball

Earlier today, my family attended a friend's wedding ceremony and reception. The weather was summer-like, even though this is the first weekend in October. The ceremony was held on the beach and the reception was held outdoors. It was very nice. I actually have a pretty healthy sunburn right now.

The meal was absolutely excellent. I ate way more than I should have, but it was hard to pass up on so much good food.

While the bridal party was having their pictures taken, the guests were served a large variety of hors d'oeuvres. We ate some delicious cheeses, grilled chicken skewers, fried sweet potatoes, fresh fruit, pasta, and a variety of other options.

Three of our four children played a part in the wedding. Hannah was the flower girl and Daniel and Jay passed out programs and bird seed. Seated with my family at the reception were two friends, Brandon & Shelly.

Daniel was having a very difficult time sitting on his chair. It was a folding chair and it kept folding in on him.

At one point, a server offered us some meatballs which were served on very long tooth-picks. I had one and so did Daniel.

While my head was turned, Daniel tried to change the way he was sitting on his chair. I think he was trying to get closer to the table so he could eat his meatball over his plate. I didn't see what happened next, but apparently his chair folded on him while he was holding the tooth-pick with the meatball on the end.

All I heard was the sound of the chair. I quickly turned my head toward Daniel and ........... the rest seemed to happen in slow motion.

As my head was turning I saw Daniel's meatball flying toward me at a very fast rate of speed. Apparently, it had flown off the tooth-pick when Daniel's chair jerked. I was wearing a white shirt and light beige pants. The meatball landed on the corner of the table and bounced toward me. My eyes bugged out of my head and for a brief second I thought, "Oh no! A flying meatball! It's going to land on my pants!"

At the very moment that I realized what was occurring, my left hand swiftly swept in front of me and lunged for the meatball with the same force as a frog's tongue swiping a fly out of the air.

I caught it.

When I realized the catastrophe had been averted, I paused for a second and stared at the warm meatball steaming in the center of my left hand. I would have been a mess if I hadn't grabbed it. Shelly was the only other adult still sitting at the table to witness this event. Both of us immediately broke out into laughter as we played back the events of the past 5 seconds in our minds. Neither of us could believe that I wasn't covered in sauce.

While this was going on, Daniel managed to get comfortable in his chair again. As he prepared to eat, he realized that his meatball was gone. He said, "Hey, where's my meatball? Dad, where's my meatball?"

I really wanted to answer him and let him know what happened, but I couldn't stop laughing long enough to catch my breath.