Fried Chicken Is The Fifth Food Group?

Friday I spent the day with my grandmother… doctor’s appointment first… we were there almost TWO hours! We kept sitting there waiting for them to call her name and she just kept on saying over and over, “how much longer?” and “what is taking so long?” and “I am ready to go eat”…it is like having a 79 year old child with no way to shush her to keep quiet. Finally, after a good report from the doctor, we went to lunch.
My grandmother LOVES this hole-in-the-wall restaurant just up the road from where she lives that serves nothing but good ol’ southern food. One of those “meat and three veggies” places… you know what I am talking about… Well, pretty much ALL of these type places almost ALWAYS has fried chicken on the line as a back-up meat (just in case you don’t prefer meatloaf or Salisbury steak or beef tips-n-gravy- which I think ALL of these are made from some sorta “mystery” meat myself!). Well this particular day they only had fried fish, baked chicken and some kind of beef concoction so we both opted for the fried chicken. Well, she prefers white meat and I like the dark. Of course, for some reason (which I have NEVER understood) all restaurants think that white meat does not qualify for a child’s plate. And my grandmother always wants a child’s plate portion meal but with WHITE meat. I tried to sway her from the subject by over-dramatizing how good the sweet potato soufflé looked today (that is her FAVORITE side of ALL time and thank the Lord it was on the buffet today!)… but, when we got up to the register and they rang up two adult priced plates she started getting antsy and asking me if they charged for a child’s plate… she is hitting my arm while I am trying to get the cash out of my pocket and into the lady’s hand as quickly as possible… and she is just a talking and carrying on behind me about the price… I hated to do it but, I finally turned around and shushed her to get her to stop. It is so hard to juggle a tray with two plates of food, pay for the meal, and listen to her nagging all the while sweating profusely because the heat must be on 80 degrees in this place. I could not get the tray and her to a table fast enough! Now she just sits there quietly and I explain that a chicken breast from some odd reason qualifies as an adult portion and that of course turns into the main subject for the entire meal…. How do I get myself into these situations??
After lunch, we cruise to the beauty shop so she can get her weekly hair curling/setting/whatcha-ma-callit… Nothing like hanging out at the beauty shop with the geriatrics crowd… I tried to pass my time doing Sudoku puzzles but one older gentleman just on kept talking about his wife of 57 years and how his cell phone only gets him in trouble. I finally spoke up after listening to him for 10 minutes and only when my cell phone rang and said, “well my husband of 16 months is calling so I better answer”. His reply was that I had a long ways to catch up with him! And I am thinking to myself, “buddy, there is NO way I will make it to 57 years of marriage at my age and the rate at which I am aging these days…”
We finally make it back to her home and I leave for Marietta just in the nick of time to sit in Friday afternoon traffic… I did find out the results of my MRI on the way home that day. I have a “mild asymmetric thickening of the extradural soft tissues in my right lateral spinal canal at C5-6” which in slang terms means an enlarged disc in my neck. I knew that the nerves in question were my C5-6 because those are the nerves that run from my neck to my index and middle fingers. And those two fingers of mine go numb all of the time! So this week I have to go back to my doctor and set up an appointment with a neurologist… now that sounds about as fun as eating gravel… But, it would be nice to get the feeling back in the tip of my middle finger on my left hand…it seems to have permanently gone numb for the past couple of weeks now… I know…weird, very weird…