Cousins' Dinner Out

Lisa and I decided back on Wednesday that we needed a cousin's dinner out. We hadn't done this for a while and with everything going on the last week or two, we were both emotionally drained and just needed to be with each other. We decided to meet at Claim Jumper right by my work. We met at 3 p.m. so we could eat and talk and it wouldn't be too loud and busy. It was perfect timing. We were the only ones in our section other than a family on the other side. Our waitress, Andrea, was phenomenal. She let us take our time and she didn't care how long it took us. She was there when we needed her and not when we didn't. We told her right from the beginning that we had had a bad week and were going through some things in our family right now and we just were craving comfort food. She totally just understood.

We decided to start with an appetizer. We couldn't decide on just one, so we got the sampler. Okay, can you say HUGE!?!?! It had these monstrous mozzarella sticks, some awesome eggrolls, onion rings galore, artichokes, fried zucchini, potato skins, and buffalo wings. Yummy.


We ordered our entrees and soon they arrived...chicken fried steak with garlic cheese toast for Lisa and a turkey avocado sandwich on wheatberry bread with a side salad. My salad was de-lish - the sandwich just okay. But, I could only eat 2 bites of it. I was full from the appetizer and salad. Lisa ate only a few bites of her meal as well and we ended up having to get boxes to take them home.

But...within a few minutes, we ordered dessert and Lisa also placed an order for some fish and chips for Craig to take home to him. I ordered a brownie for Melon Man and a strawberry pie-ish thingy for me. Lisa ordered the lemon bar brulee for her. Andrea brough out the desserts and well..... mmmmmmm, goooooooood. Lisa again only had two bites and I ate a couple strawberries and about half of the whipped cream. Then, we boxed those up too.


It was such a release for the two of us to just sit there and talk. We reminisced about Wendy and the fun memories with her. We talked about our plans for when she finally passes away. We just listened to each other. It was so great to just be together - cousin and cousin.

I am so GRATEFUL that Lisa lives here. She and I have become very close over the years and I value her love and friendship so much. I'm so GRATEFUL that Heavenly Father guided me to AZ 16 years ago. He totally knew that I would need her.