Were going to go downtown tonight to see Slippery When Wet, a Bon Jovi cover band, but it started raining a little and thundering, so we went decided to head on to Richlands, where Amanda’s parents live. I’m taking some pictures tomorrow and we decided to have breakfast with Amanda’s grandparents as her mom does every Saturday, so it was either get up early and go or go tonight.

On the way to Richlands we talked to Phil Mercer, Amanda’s dad, who asked me to stop and pick up some beer on the way, so we stopped at a Food Lion maybe a mile from the exit on 53 in Burgaw. It took me literally fifteen minutes for a case of beer. All the lines had a very full cart in them and the express lane wasn’t open until I was already checking out. It was ridiculous.

Once in Richlands and at Amanda’s parents house I hung out with Phil, who was finishing up some benches for us. We drank a beer and watched MASH. Well, he also glued and screwed together the pieces of our benches, and I sort of held them while he drove in the screws, but I’m pretty sure my help and input was quite minimal.

We had a dinner of steak, potatoes and a noodle and cheese concoction that Amanda called macaroni and cheese. It basically was macaroni and cheese, just with a different kind of noodles. We had some key lime pie that Karen had made for dessert.

After dinner Amanda and her mom, Karen, kept driving me crazy with their conversations. I think one was about whether a Parson terrier was the same or an offshoot breed of the Jack Russell terrier. Neither one would listen to the other. I definitely know that the communication skills were handed down from mother to daughter. I kept threatening to leave and go upstairs. I was just reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows all night anyway.

Zach Dotsey