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Atlanta is the headquarters of Coca Cola, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go to Coca Cola World. Coca Cola is a vice that I periodically swear off and just as periodically, I start drinking again. One day, when my Pastor was taking a drink of soda, he declared it not evil. Then he hesitated and said, “Well, maybe.” That pretty much sums up my stance on coke. During Abby’s Science Fair, two different students did science projects to convince people that coke was completely unhealthy. One student tried to determine which brand, coke or pepsi, would dissolve a large piece of meat quicker. They came out even. Another student used coke to clean rust off cars. In Australia, the majority of people drink lemonade (a sprite or seven up type drink, not the American version of lemonade). However, they do sell coke in stores and restaurants. To Dales dismay, they do not sell root beer in Australia. At one point we actually imported some root beer and our Aussie friends all declared it disgusting. I grew up in a root beer drinking family. The big treat was to go to the A&W and get a literal frosty mug of root beer. For awhile we went to The Pop Shop and would have bottles filled with orange, grape, and cola soda. I grew up saying pop or soda. Dale, however, grew up calling everything a coke. “Do you want a coke?”, they ask. If you say yes, they will ask you which kind…”Coke, Sprite, Root beer, Dr Pepper?” It’s very confusing. However, the majority of time it is a coke, the favored drink of all Manrys. In Louisiana, the temperature is so hot and humid, the sticky air causes you to melt into your seat once you sit down and you don’t have enough energy to get up and get yourself something to drink. So, throughout the entire visit, everyone is trying to convince their significant other to get up and get them a drink. “Honey, will you fix me a coke?”, they ask. If someone is forced to get up to go to the bathroom or check on the kids, they know that they will be filling coke orders. Dale’s family buys coke in the 2 liter bottles. So, in order to fix a coke, you fill a giant plastic cup with ice and pour the coke on top. The only Manry who drinks coke from a can is Dale’s Daddy and he hides the cans of coke in a cooler in his truck so that everyone won’t drink all his coke. If you ever receive the privilege of being offered one of his cans of coke, you are in high favor indeed. (Just pickin, Sir.) Manry’s begin drinking coke at a very young age. When Dale and I were first married, I watched one of his nephews drinking coke from his baby bottle. (Don’t worry, Tami, I’m sure they’ll never guess that it was your son.) Anyway, Coca Cola World was a must visit location because I heard you could drink coke to your hearts content. Coca Cola world consists of a lot of standing in line or as Aussies say, waiting in the q. We stood in line to purchase tickets, we stood in line to go through security, we stood in line to enter, we stood in line for the movie theater, we stood in line to see the displays, we stood in line to see the bottle works. By the time everyone gets to the tasting station, people are tired of standing in line and it is a bit of a free for all. The first movie they made you watch was dreadful, but the 3D movie of a professor trying to figure out the secret recipe was quite good. The movie took you around the world, snow boarding, had plenty of explosions, and fruit flying at you. You got squirted with water and you seat moved and shook. The bottle works that had an assembly line of robots, gears, and machines that bottle coke was interesting. I imagine Gabe will invent something like that some day. But, the highlight was the tasting station. They had soda machines with all the coke products from around the world. There was one from India that was made from vegetables. Josiah took one drink and poured it out. There was one from Italy that tasted like liquid sugar. The two we liked were Smart Apple and Kiwi Mango. Our shoes stuck to the floor of the room because of all the soda that had been spilled. There was one guy with a mop and bucket trying to clean up some of it, but it was a hopeless cause. They must run a giant floor washing machine over that floor every night. Josiah and I drank coke products until we were sick. On the way out, you can grab a bottle of coke to go. Coca Cola World is imprinted on the bottle. I put the bottles in the fridge for us to bring to the airport and drink at lunch before we flew back. We had only brought carry on luggage and the bottles were greater than 3 oz, so I knew we had to drink them. When we got to the airport, I attempted to twist off the tops and realized we needed a bottle opener. I went to the gift shop for help and the attendant kindly pulled a decorative Atlanta bottle opener off the rack and opened them for me. The other girl who worked there saw her and said, “I had to do that the other day. Everyone wants to keep their coke bottles, but they can’t take them through security with liquid in them.” As I drank my coke out of a glass bottle I remembered something Dale’s Daddy had told me… “There’s nothing better than drinking coke out of a glass bottle.” I’m not certain if I’m the first Manry to make the pilgrimage to Atlanta, but I’m sure I won’t be the last.

Abby participated in her 6th grade science fair today. She did her experiment on whether smell effects taste. Grandpa, Grandma, Josiah and Gabe were her lab rats for the experiment. They all loved the chocolate, but weren’t too happy about the onion. She concluded that smell does effect taste, but she would have to eliminate the effect of texture. She made her display board and had to answer questions from the judges. When she came home from school she told me that the project next to her was completely gross. The girl had a cow’s heart under glass and did her experiment on clogged arteries. During the awards ceremony, the Best in Show was won by the cow’s heart girl. Working with a cow’s heart to win the science fair just wouldn’t be worth it for my daughter. Gabe, however, was greatly disappointed that he didn’t get to see the cow’s heart. For the last couple months, Gabe has been asking me how he can win a trophy. When he finds out that you get a trophy for winning Best in Show in the Science Fair, I fear what he’ll come up with to outdo a cow’s heart.

Abby attended her second birthday sleepover since school started. With two sleepovers in a month, I made a comment that she must be a Brien (whose family motto is life’s a party). She replied that if she was a Brien, she would have two parties to go to on the same day. That is true. So, she went to her sleepover on Saturday night and I told her I would pick her up at 0830 Sunday morning to attend Sunday School. When I picked her up she was looking exhausted and as the morning progressed, her fight to stay awake got harder and harder. I did think, “I should just bring her home and put her to bed, or I should tell her to go sleep in the car.” But I couldn’t escape the memory of me as a teenager, having stayed out too late on Saturday night, wearing my crumpled outfit from the night before trying to stay awake during church. It is a bit humorous to watch your child do something that you have done yourself. It’s a bit like being in the Twilight Zone. It kept Josiah entertained for sure. Another thing that has kept Josiah entertained is the Science Fiction block in Literature. On Friday, they watched an episode of the Twilight Zone at school. My brother Rob and I loved to watch the Twilight Zone when we were kids. It was on late at night and we would watch it trying to pretend that we weren’t scared. One night the episode where the monster disguises itself as someone you love was on. We finished watching it and I went to the bathroom and Rob went upstairs to bed. Howie was a baby at the time and his crib was in my room. I walked into my room, didn’t turn the light on so as not to wake up Howie and then saw the blanket in Howie’s bed begin to rise. I don’t know if I’ve ever screamed louder or ran faster in my life. Unbeknownst to me, my Mom had Howie in her room. Rob had hidden under the blanket and stood up to scare me. Scare me, he did. I think I’ve finally forgiven him, but I never watched the Twilight Zone again.