Back in 1996 a friend of mine suggested I should join him on a youth group trip down to the Mexicali Valley. I didn’t have anything else to do over spring break so I decided to tag along. Somewhere along the line I realized that one of the girls in the youth group was interested in me. She had big…ummm…personality…so I decided I could do worse and 11 years later we got married (talk about moving fast). The lesson: be careful when a friend asks you to go to Mexico, you could end up catching something that stays with you for life.

Last weekend, the youth group celebrated their 20th year going to Mexicali and had a reunion to celebrate. Shae and I figured that since we have the youth group to thank/blame for our relationship we should head up to King City for the weekend. The reunion was fun, and it was great to catch up with people I haven’t seen since high school. I also thought showing up with a twin-carrying wife might be a warning to the youngsters about what can happen if you marry your high school girlfriend after 11 years of dating (I’d say “high school sweetheart” but Shae’s not always all that sweet, especially when the twins make her cranky).

That’s a great story, but what does any of this have to do with Lunchbox? I’m glad you asked. While we were visiting the parents, we decided to take LB out to Lake San Antonio to let him play in the water. We had taken him once before and he was a little hesitant at first (he got over it in about five minutes). We didn’t have any such issues this time.

Actually, our problem was getting him out of the water. It could have been because I sounded like a 12-year-old when I was calling him, but in my defense Shae started recording after I’d been trying to get him out of the lake for a while. I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again: top dog my ass.