When I was young, my dad, my mom, and I would go visit my aunt (dad’s sister) who lived in Florida every few years for a week or two. My dad’s parents would spend a good chunk of their winter down there as well. During our overlapping visit, my parents would usually take at least one night and go out for a nice meal for just the two of them. I’d roll with Grandma and Grandpa to Long John Silvers.
I have a handful of memories 30+ years later of my grandpa and many more years of memories with my grandma, but those dinners out are probably the strongest memory I have of the two of them together and the only one I can think of that is the three of us.
I usually regret the decision a few hours after visiting, but a chicken dinner with fries for slaw (with vinegar splashed on top) and a few hush puppies clog my arteries and fill my heart every few months or so…


It was on Instagram.
I shared it with a few friends and mentioned I was curious if they were actually going to update some of their packaging or getting ahead of the same crap they caught when Dick Van Dyke turned 100 late last year.