THE PETRIFIED CHEESE STICK

First of all, I don't mean "petrified" as in scared to death, but rather "petrified" as in turned to stone. This is an interesting story that our family has experienced & wondered about over the past nine or ten months. I'm sure you must be thinking I'm just a half bubble off of plumb, & that may be true, but let me back up a little & explain.

For as long as I can remember Charley has loved cheese sticks. You know, what I mean if you've been around kids, those round cylinders of mozzarella string cheese. They are about 4 to 5 inches long & 1/2 to 3/4 inch across. Back when she was two or three, I recall someone asking Charley what her favorite food was - she immediately & enthusiastically replied, "Cheese sticks!"

Last summer on one of Darrin & Charley's trips up here to visit us, Charley was hungry. Being the prepared dad, Darrin handed her a cheese stick. Soon after Charley was distracted with something either along the road or inside the car. After several minutes, she said, "Where is my cheese stick?" She looked all over for it with no luck. Not on the floor. Not on the seat. Not on her lap or with the ghouls she brought in the car.

Darrin asked if she had eaten it already. Charley insisted she hadn't eaten it but she did indeed have it at one point. Darrin agreed that he had given it to her. We know that Charley would not have forgotten that she ate it &, of course, she was still hungry. Darrin gave her another cheese stick which she did eat right away this time.

Upon their arrival in Sacramento, I was informed that there is a missing cheese stick that "just disappeared" in the car according to Charley as she raised her hands in the air for emphasis. Darrin looked everywhere in the car to no avail. He reached under the seats, felt in the crack between the seat & the back, even moved the car seat - but no cheese stick was discovered.

Since then the story of the missing cheese stick was related to other friends & family members. Several times in conversation over the past months the mystery of the disappearing cheese stick has been discussed. How it just vanished has continued to stump us.

Fast forward to this past Saturday. Darrin drove up to spend the weekend with us. While he was here, he decided to vacuum his car really well since our garage makes that task a little easier. He couldn't remember the last time he had worked on cleaning the inside of his car. I can totally relate to that, like mother, like son. I talked with him outside for awhile then went back in the house.

A few minutes later, Darrin comes in & rather excitedly says, "Guess what I found!?", holding up a yellowish colored stick. "Omigod!!! You found the cheese stick!", I exclaimed. Apparently, it had fallen under the front seat & rolled up against the frame work where he couldn't see it or feel it until the seat was moved all the way back. Yay!!! The mystery was solved!

But here is the really crazy & somewhat unnerving part. The cheese stick was literally hard as a rock! It definitely appeared to be petrified, honestly, like wood in the petrified forest. It wasn't slimy or moldy or gooey or anything weird. It looked almost like a dog bone. Both of us were a bit flabbergasted that the cheese stick had hardened into something that was not about to break but still retained the approximate shape & size of the original. Bizarre!

We Face Timed Charley saying we had something funny to tell her. Darrin said to her, "Do you remember last year what was lost in the car? Charley immediately shouted, "The cheese stick!" Darrin held it up & said, "I found it! It was under the front seat where I couldn't see it before." Then we banged it on the table to show her how hard it was. She was really surprised, too, & excited that the cheese stick was finally found even if it was now "petrified". Darrin saved it to show her when we see her later this month.

Last night I was relating the petrified cheese stick story to my sister. She, too, became slightly excited & said she remembered hearing about the cheese stick that just disappeared. I'm pretty sure our family just might be a little wacko but I love us all just the way we are! Not to mention that we are the proud owners of a fossilized cheese stick. How many people can say that?