French Fries

I can no longer remember how I first found the blog 1000 Awesome Things, even though it was just a few weeks ago. I probably saw it as a link on the blog roll for some other website. It's a great blog, the unabashed positive nature of it is so refreshing, unlike some of the snarky blogs I've also been reading lately. Last night, I was looking at the Top 1000 list, which basically is a quick check of all the different items posted to date.

And I found this one.

Oh the memories! Not so much about the exact content of this post. But of the goofy fry games we played as kids on the rare occasions when we got to eat at McDonalds. There were two:

Biggest Fry Contest- I suppose this is pretty self explanatory. Whoever had the longest French fry won. It was a badge of honor, and the losers were supremely jealous of the winner. Or at least, so we thought if we were so fortunate as to be the winner. ;) I remember my older sibs teaching us this one.

Matches- I think maybe Becky and I just played this one, though we probably also taught it to Lisa and Bethany. We'd dip the tip of the French fry into ketchup to make it look like a matchstick. Then we'd touch the other person's tray with the fry and say "fffsssss" as if we were setting their tray on fire.

One time, when we were in college, I picked up Becky at her school and drove us home for Easter weekend. We stopped at a Wendy's just north of Columbus to have dinner. I had a sudden memory of that matches game and did it to her tray. She stared at me for a moment, puzzled, then busted up laughing as she caught up to where my memory had taken me. It was a great moment, and clearly one that has stuck with me for 15 years. And the memory still makes me smile.

Bonus smile: my friend Martin called these "freedom fries" back when we were in grad school together. He always ate them first.