Of Fans, Flatbread and Football

Yesterday (being the celebration of our nation's independence... i.e. July 4th), was a day off of work, responsibilities, and all non-funn-ness. Hence, I lived it up by running a race, watching part of the Parade, eating gelato, going to the Freedom Festival, going out to dinner, and camping out in the backyard--all very fun things. Three quick stories from the Freedom Festival:

Barney and I were wearing our matching Cubs hats, and as we were walking around, a man stopped us to inform us that he was indeed a fellow Cubs fan even though he was from the South side (technically White Sox territory). Funny how little things like a Cubs hat could not only spark conversation, but also form an instant fan club. Barney says he feels the same way when he sees someone using a Mac. For me, chacos do it. Hey look! There's someone wearing chacos! Chaco power! (that's our chaco club cheer)

Along our way we stopped at a flat bread stand. We only stopped because the day previous, I had met the guy running the stand, and he told me that it was the best flat bread in the whole world and had won a bunch of competitions (who would've thought that flat bread competitions existed?) and I believed it because he has 17 children. And come on! Anyone with that many kids means business. Anyway we went and it was good (especially with honey butter in the shape of first a star, then a circle, then an amoeba), but I wouldn't have voted for it at a flat bread competition. That is unless there was no one else competing (which was probably the case).

Our third adventure (that made it into this post for the sake of my alliteration in the title) occurred once again by a fellow Freedom Festival attendant, and once again due to articles of clothing. Barney was wearing a Barcelona soccer jersey, and this cute little (I say "little" because he couldn't have been been more than 5 feet tall) man from Mexico city stopped Barney to tell him about how much he loved the sport and the team. He wasn't making much sense in English, so I busted out my Spanish and we had a nice conversation. He introduced himself as Hermano (brother) Flores and asked about us, our relationship, and left a blessing upon us. It reminded me of this one time several years ago, when a Latin woman was praying over our food, and she left a blessing upon us that we would be fruitful, and procreate a lot. Gotta love the boldness of it.

Well, another blissful day in the life of Maria. I live it and I love it.