Did I ever tell you about the time...

On one my drives home a few weeks back, I turned the radio channel to avoid yet another political ad. (These presidential primaries are totally the pits, aren't they?? I mean, I'm all for being an educated and responsible voter, but geez....it's hard to avoid all the flying mud in the air, isn't it?) After I had turned the channel, I asked Jerod, "Did I ever tell you about my most memorable abortion debate conversation?" I totally had, but I decided to tell him again, just because the story rocks that much. So, I was thinking that in the spirit of elections and all that jazz, I'd also tell y'all about it. (And I just gotta say, whether you're pro-choice, pro-life, or pro-I-don't-really-care, I still think this story kinda rocks.)

In the summer of 2000, I decided to spend the summer back at home and to get a couple jobs in my hometown. Besides house sitting, dog sitting, and slinging coffee, candy and ice cream, I spent most of my time working at a tree nursery just outside of town. It was a great job. I got to play in the dirt and water and mud all day. I would spend my mornings outside while it was still cool and quiet. I would prune, weed, organize, re-pot and water to my heart's content. It was one of those jobs that you could go the whole day without talking to a soul. You got to be outside, breath the fresh air, get sunburned and build up a strong back. I loved it. Around lunchtime when the day's heat really started setting in, I would raid the vegetable garden for lunch and then head inside to the A/C and desk to work the rest of the afternoon on the computer. Part of my job was to help out with the landscaping billing and bookkeeping. I really did have it made. I could enjoy the nursery during the best part of the day, and then head inside when it got the hottest and also when most of the customers would come expecting you to answer all their horticultural questions (which I really had no clue how to answer. Give me numbers. I can handle numbers.)

The owners of the nursery have three grown sons, and the youngest of the sons had just graduated Harvard and was home for the summer running the landscaping portion of the nursery. He also brought his girlfriend (and Yale grad), Vanessa, home for the summer. I didn't know much about her. I did remember hearing that her father was a senator or some other kind of politician or something, but I didn't really pay attention. She was nice enough and an unpretentious hard worker and I enjoyed working with her. There as also a ranch portion to the nursery, also ran by the same owners. It was one of these cool pleasant mornings while Vanessa and I were potting trees in the large potting shed. It was branding season, and you could hear the cowboys wrangling the cattle through the shoot, which was nearby. You could also hear the groan of the calves as they were individually castrated and branded. Vanessa was visibly bothered by this and couldn't help but comment on how cruel she felt the whole branding process was. I kind of chuckled and agreed that it probably wasn't the funnest experience in a cows life. After a while of talking about this, I mentioned that hurting a few animals really didn't bother me when I thought about how desensitized we as Americans have come to the millions of babies that have been murdered through abortion. I could tell that I just lit the spark in the fiery (and obviously pro-choice) Vanessa's eyes. But I, being my usual stubborn, opinionated self, obviously felt just as passionate and we sat there, next to a 30 foot high pile of dirt and had a heated abortion debate. I'm not sure how it all ended, but eventually we had to get back to work slinging trees and (ironically) mud. She never really did like me after that. She soon started helping her boyfriend on the landscaping jobs rather than the nursery end, so I didn't see much of her after that anyway. So, I eventually came to the end of my summer with a stronger back and a sunburned face and headed back to college.

During my senior year of college, the presidential primary elections were just starting to heat up. The obvious main candidates were pretty much already chosen and everywhere I turned on the television, you saw John Kerry and George W debating or shmoozing or participating in some other campaign related activity. I was home at my parents house for the weekend and FoxNews had a commercial showing John Kerry and his family. His family was talking about what kind of man Mr. Kerry was and how he was dedicated and honest and blah blah blah. His two daughters flashed up on the screen to talk about their dad and under their faces, their names were posted...Alexandra and Vanessa Kerry. I cocked my head as I looked at Vanessa's face. "Hey! You know who she looks like?? Oh....wait....her name is Vanessa too.....NO. FREAKIN. WAY!" (I'm a thick one, I know.)

So, now you know about the time I had an abortion debate with one of the presidential candidate's daughters. I'm tellin' ya. I should write a book...