Banana Split Dishes

I never got to meet Don's father, he passed away while I was in high school. Some days, though, I feel like I have met him because of how vivid Don's memories are of him. Don insists that his father would have loved me. He explains that our love of sci-fi, geeky programming, and even playing with wireless technologies would have been common ground to start the conversation but my quick wit (blush) and his father's dry humor would have kept it going. Don also says that his father, Bob, would have considered me worthy enough to debate. At any rate, one of Bob's pleasures was an old fashion banana split. Don remembers this fondly and proudly being served one of these bad-boys by his Dad. Of all the times I offered Don a banana split, he didn't want one, at first I assumed he had outgrown his sweet tooth. But he explained, that you can't have a decent banana split without the right dish.

Hunh? What the! How silly! It would taste just the same! I only said aloud, "Why does it matter?" Don smiled and said, "Trust me, it does."

Since that time and as I grew to know and understand Don better, and hear more about his father, I learned that it really did matter. So, I occasionally searched for the right banana split dishes. Oh, I found some right away, but they didn't speak to me. They didn't say these were the right ones. Years have gone by since that conversation -no hurry, no rush.

I was reminded to look again recently. There they were! Not like the ones Don grew up with but ones that we could call our own and create new memories. When all heavy 12 anchor hocking dishes arrived, we carefully washed them. Don saw them and smiled the sweetest smile at me. The next night he went to the store, to find ingredients worthy of *his* new dishes. His- because we knew that these were meant for Dad only to dish out the goods. He served every child and I with a huge smile and watched us eat every bite. He was too full with dinner to have more than a bite of Sean's dessert, but that didn't stop Don from grinning like a fool and looking at all us of dig in.

Anyway, now we are a family with the right banana split dishes that maybe company will get to use one day, but that will be up to Don.