Cow Appreciation Day

I am a GRITS - Girl Raised in the South. Therefore, I love Coca-Cola (not Pepsi). And I say "y'all." And I call a grocery cart a "buggy." And all my midwestern friends know how much I love Chick-fil-A. Even though I'm a White Castle Craver Hall of Famer, my true passion lies with CFA.

When we got our first free-standing CFA in the St. Louis area in mid-2007, I was overjoyed. I heard that when a new CFA opens, the first 100 customers get a year's supply of free CFA. My friend Beth (also a diehard CFA fan) and I were trying to coordinate how we could camp out overnight to be one of the first 100. I was even considering taking a 3-month-old Jackson with me at one point. Turns out the entire metro area was WAY ahead of us. The parking lot was packed more than 15 hours before the store's opening. So we didn't get our free CFA food.

Until today.

Today is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A. That means anyone who shows up in a cow costume gets a free value meal. And guess what I have in our Halloween costume box? Yep! A full cow costume! Complete with rubber udders. My mom's group planned to meet up at CFA and make costumes for our kids so they could earn a free meal too. My friend Michelle cut out felt spots, made cow tails and brought masks for the kids to color. We thought we were the only freaks in town to go to this length. But when lunchtime rolled around, you should have SEEN the crazies start walking in the door! I loved the groups of adults who showed up (obviously on their lunch breaks) with spots on their suits or cow ears pinned into their hair. It was very entertaining.

However, my favorite part of the day was when we were in the kids' play area and someone else's little boy walked up and started squeezing my udders. The mom was so embarrassed. I just laughed.

Jackson has been talking about the big cow all day. My kids are being raised with a deep appreciation of the world's finer food. What else would you expect from a GRITS?