Olive Garden-When You're Here, You're Family

Last night I devoured what was perhaps the best meal I'd had in four weeks. My old friend Tara was in town with her parents for x-country and they graciously treated Nicole, Rachel and I to dinner. In case the title didn't clue you in, we ate at Olive Garden. I always thought the never ending (or is it bottomless?) breadsticks was an exaggeration. They might give you, say, three refills, then they charge you. WRONG. They just kept coming, and coming, and coming. So delicious. This morning, we are going to Tara's race-I've never been to a cross country race before. When I asked if we should stand at the finish line, (I figured that would be the most important part of the race) her parents laughed slightly and said "oh no, we run around the course with her!" For the life of me, I couldn't imagine myself running around this three mile track, trying to keep up with a certified cross country runner. I was about to cry at the thought-I could already feel the burn in my calves and lack of oxygen in my lungs- when her mom said words the most glorious words, "but I have a broken toe, so I'll just be standing at the finish line." I hopped on that bandwagon like it was my JOB. "Don't worry, I don't mind standing with you. The others can run around with Mike. You and I will just wait for them all at the end." Good God. I had no idea how strenuous these meets could be on the fans. Anyway, got to go get ready. Nice talking to you all! I am going to get some genuine cowboy boots at the general store!

-Martha