Joe and John Cooper

Bodacious Fabric Goddesses met last night at the shop. Since it was now a "school night," we broke up early but most people had block #6 from the NQA Quilting Quarterly done. Notice I said "most." Not me. Once again I had too many stories to share and ended up turning two pieces wrong and had to take apart what is undoubtedly the easiest block of the twelve -- will finish it this week when I take a few breaks from longarming.

The story I told about my husband Joe is worth repeating, and I think you will understand why I was distracted with whoops of laughter. Joe and I were at the Ross Heart Hospital on Thursday for his follow up tests and appointment with one of his heart doctors. (Joe is doing well, by the way, but we periodically have these appointments.) We are sitting in the main waiting room in between events when a nice-looking older man walks by. Joe perks up immediately and says "Do you know who that is?"

Ok, the guy is vaguely familiar but I answer "No."

"It's John Cooper!" At this point Joe is really lurching forward in his seat, and I thought he might actually get up and accost the guy to see if it's really him.

Given the name, now I recognize the former OSU Buckeye coach but only from all the Kroger ads he did on tv. I recommend to Joe that he leave the guy alone as the only reason he would be signing in at the receptionist's desk is that he also has an appointment with a heart doctor. Joe glares at me and demands I find a piece of paper for him to get John Cooper's autograph.

Coach Cooper turns from the reception area, walks toward the waiting area, and (Wait for it!) sits next to Joe. I could no longer protect the man.

Joe starts in on a conversation with "Coach" and continues to nudge me with requests for a piece of paper. The only paper I have is a pad of Mary Englebreit sticky notes. I hand this to Joe who requests an autograph for our son-in-law Jason who truly is a real Buckeye fan. Coach Cooper obligingly writes "To Jason, Go Buckeyes! John Cooper," in the midst of Mary Englebreit's design. Then, thankfully, Coach Cooper is called back to his appointment, and Joe is left clutching his pad of sticky notes and smiling joyously at the other men seated around Coach's now empty chair.

I was very impressed with how nice John Cooper was to my presumptuous husband. Thank you, Coach, it made his day.

That afternoon when Jason arrives to pick up our grandson Kai, Joe is ready with the autograph, and Jason loves it. He even loves that it's on a sticky note. It will be framed in that so far mythical OSU room that Jason is going to have.

Men, you gotta love them!