And also while I was playing the accordion, we would go to Cedar Point, Ohio. They would have an international music festival down there where you’d go down and compete in front of judges. And I did that, and one of my memor- -- most memorable p- um, memories of that was that I had played my solo -- 'cause I did a duet, and I did a solo, and then I played with our orchestra. So I had several events. But during my solo, I got lost and I could not figure out how to get out of what I was doing and I'm playing my song -- 'cause you didn't have your music in front of you, of course, it was all memorized. And I'm sitting there right in front of a judge and then there's the audience behind the judge and I'm playing, and finally I remembered where I was in the music. And I finished my song and I thought, “Oh, man, did I blow that one.” And when it got all done, then the judge would critique the person who was playing for him in front of the whole audience and, and he gave me a number one rating, which I was totally shocked about. And, and he just kinda smiled at me and then he turned to the audience and he said, "I knew she was lost and she knew she was lost, but you didn't know you -- she was lost because she just kept on smiling and playing just like she knew what she was doing." So that was something that has always stuck with me is that just keep on keeping on and do the best you can, and eventually you'll find your way. And that really stuck with me over the years.

So we were -- I was somewhere with my mom and sister, and my mom ran into someone that she knew from a long time ago but hadn't seen in a while. And my mom had retired from teaching kindergarten. She probably knew her from school, probably at the time maybe six or seven years before we met this lady. And so the lady asked her, "Oh, you know, how are you enjoying retirement? You know, what do you, what do you do? Like, how do you, how do you spend your time?" And my mom goes, "I fiddle a lot." And the lady's eyes light up and she says, "Oh my gosh! I didn't know that you played." And she starts talking about how somebody that she knows or maybe even herself plays the fiddle and how she just had no idea that my, my mom played the fiddle and wow, could they -- you know, like, talking about where do you play? And should -- can we get together? And this whole thing, and my mom's standing there realizing that she's completely misunderstood. My mom fiddles, like she -- I dunno what the actual definition of fiddle is, but basically you, you aren't doing anything important, you're just fiddling around, you are -- I, I should look up what the actual definition of the word fiddle is, but you're, you're just sort of using up your time in, in some sort of way that, that doesn't really necessarily have any meaning or isn't really doing anything. So, my mom is standing there wondering as this, this woman continues to go on how she's gonna tell this woman that she doesn't actually play the fiddle, that she just fiddles around with things. So I, I don't even -- I think she did eventually have to tell her that she didn't play because I think this woman really wanted to, to get her out playing, you know, somewhere. So, that -- I -- we still laugh at that story because my mom continues to say all the time, "I -- man I can fiddle so well," you know like, "Man, I spent the whole afternoon fiddling." And yeah, not playing an instrument, though. That's for sure.

There's a story about pinto beans and my Uncle [Name]. Uncle [Name] had a buddy. And the buddy wanted Uncle [Name] to take care of his little dog. It was like a little pomeranian, fluff ball kind of dog and the man came over to my Uncle [Name’s] house with his little puff dog. And he had brought some chicken for my Uncle [Name] to boil up and feed the dog, and he brought some special treats and, oh, just things that a pampered pet would get. And the man told Uncle [Name] he's going to have to, you know, feed him the chicken because he won't eat anything else, and Uncle [Name] says, "Well, why don't you feed ‘em pinto beans? Like, most people down here feed their animals pinto beans -- or, their dogs anyway." And the guy said, "I tried getting her to eat pintos, but she won't eat ‘em. She only eats boiled chicken." And Uncle [Name] says, "I'll tell you what. She'll be eating pinto beans by the time you get back," and the man laughed at my Uncle [Name] and said, "Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it." Well, the man went off on his merry way. And three days later, he came back to pick up his little dog, and Uncle [Name] handed the man the chicken and all the treats and said, "We didn't need ‘em." And the man said, "You got the dog to eat pintos?" And Uncle [Name] was scooping out a pile of pintos for the dogs, and he says, "Well, come on, I'll show you." So he put the pot of pintos down in front of the dogs. And this little pomeranian, fluff ball devoured the pintos, devoured them. And the man was flabbergasted. "How in the world did you get my dog to eat pintos?" And Uncle [Name] looked at the man and said, "I aint fed ‘em since you left." There's a lesson to be learned there. Never say never.