One time I went to the city where Terri lives and dropped in on her unexpectedly. We were catching each other up on everything when she asked if I was hungry and offered to make me a sandwich. When I said yes, she made me ham, cheese, lettuce, and tomato on a sandwich roll–much better than anything Subway could do. But while I was eating it, a piece of lettuce went down the wrong way and I started choking. I think that may be the only time my life has ever flashed before my eyes, and horror dawned on Terri’s face as she realized I couldn’t catch my breath and might never. She started banging on my back, and all I could think about was how I was going to endure death by sandwich, like Mama Cass.
Of course, that’s a myth. Mama Cass didn’t really die by choking on a sandwich. As you might have surmised, neither did I. I highly recommend if you have a near-death experience you try to do it with someone like Terri, because as soon as I could breathe again, we went right back to our conversation. No sense prolonging the drama.
None of these photos has anything to do with that moment in our lives, but September 13 is Terri’s birthday, so I thought I’d dig into the photo archives.
Taken during the same period of our lives as the Sandwich Incident, that Auburn Tiger on Terri’s sweatshirt is trying to kill me. It’s like she thought she was in my will or something.
She and Daniel, both wearing Auburn apparel, are obviously high-fiving each other over some football moment that reflected poorly on the Crimson Tide.
I believe I gave her this sweater that Christmas, and she looks a little bemused, probably because it doesn’t have a Tiger or anything else Auburn-related on it.
This is a photo that Terri must have given Mother of Daniel, age six, standing in front of the South Carolina hospital where Terri was born.
Even though you won’t see this for a while because you’re gallivanting around the Northeast, happy birthday, Terri! And because it’s your birthday, just for you, War Eagle. That’ll have to do for another year.