Ken Can Cook... And who exactly is that turtle on the road behind me?

A few weeks ago, I signed my husband up to help out at my church's annual spaghetti dinner. No biggie, right? Well, it wouldn't be except for two things:

1.He hates (that is not a strong enough word really) to cook!!

2. As a Catholic, he has serious issues with organized religion ever since the whole priest scandal began a while back. While my church is not Catholic, he still views most churches with skepticism.

So, we decided to ride in separate cars so that he could make a dash out of there as soon as he thought he was finished. Well, Mario Andretti decided to obey all vehicle and traffic laws on the way. Totally stop at all stop signs; obey posted speed limits and to help wayward turtles off of the dangerous roadways. I kept losing sight of him on the way and could not believe that he was driving like the turtles he is so fond of assisting.

Once, he did catch up to me and I waved at him from my truck. I think he waved back, but it was not a cordial wave of the hand...if you get my drift. Now, ten years ago, he would have NEVER attended this event,and I would have had to listen to him rant and rave about me trying to get him into the church in a backhanded kind of way. He would have acted like I was going to have him baptized against his will or something!! He was actually almost accepting of his forced duty, although he reminded me again and again NEVER to sign him up for anything ever again. (Maybe he will forget by next year, huh?)

Well, here he is cooking pasta!!
He even has an apron on!! WOW!!
After FOUR hours of cooking, everyone is done and ready to leave. He is still chatting about hunting and fishing with a friend. So, I actually ended up leaving before him!!

Except for a few "minor" incidents, this was a great night! So, here is what happened:

1. He cooked about 25 pounds of pasta.

2. He lost about 3 pounds from sweating.

3. He caught on fire (oh please...his friend was there to put out the flames on his arm hair!)

4. A rubber glove was "steamed" onto his flesh (again, his friend helped him remove it)

5. He lost all hair on his right arm from incident #3...

6. If it is possible, I love him even more for doing something against his will just to make me happy. (See ladies, don't give up if your man has certain things he claims he will never, ever, ever do! Sometimes, it is just a time issue...keep waiting)

Our kids were shocked that:

A. Their dad was going to the church

B. Their dad was going to COOK at church

C. Their dad was not home within 30 minutes

All was right with the world...Amen!