How I Met Cookie Monster


With Super Bowl XLVIII behind us I'll now publicly announce that I am a member of the NFL.  At least I was from 1982-1985.  I am not certain if my membership is for life or just while I was an active participant.  In high school, I joined the National Forensic League as part of the debate classes I took.  Because I found tremendous enjoyment participating in debate events I competed often and had enough success to achieve double ruby status.

A curious side effect of my participation in debate tournaments was my personal habit of wearing a tie to school on most Fridays.  For those unfamiliar with the debate format, these tournaments tend to occur on Fridays and Saturdays.  We would almost always leave right after school, so there wouldn't be time to go home and change.  I was too lazy to bring a change of clothes with me to school and the lockers wouldn't have been big enough to hang a suit jacket and a dress shirt anyway.  So I just started showing up to school like I was on my way to church.

Always in a tie.
The first couple of times felt rather conspicuous but I soon realized that I was about the only person who noticed what I was wearing to school.  I suspect that everyone else was so concerned about their own dress and appearance that they didn't have time to worry about me and what I had on.  Because I was in a suit and tie on more than just Sundays, I came to feel quite comfortable in that style of dress.  Even today if someone asks me to get more comfortable, suggesting that I take off my jacket or tie, I really am quite comfortable as is.

Well one evening after a long day at the office I ended up going with my wife and daughter to an arena show that featured life size Muppets.  The whole gang was there and it was a thrill to see my childhood Sesame Street idols and share them with my little girl.  They had musical numbers and skits and the evening was full of fun. This was also not a formal event.  I feel safe in saying that of the 8-10,000 people who were in the audience, I was the only one who was wearing a tie.

At one point during the production they chose someone from the audience to go up on the stage and learn and perform a little dance with the Cookie Monster.  The night before they picked Thurl Bailey, a former NBA player with the Utah Jazz, to go on stage.  This night they picked the one guy dressed in a tie. Even though I cannot dance to save my life I got up on the stage and had a blast.

My Naomi



Unfortunately we left our home in such a hurry that we didn't have a camera so there's no photograph to help my daughter remember the night.

She'll have to rely on my stories.  

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