Man-Riching

Tonight was the annual Wreathmaking event for the women of the ward. A ton of time was spent setting up the church, preparing the program, getting out the food assignments, and bringing in the materials so the women could make wreaths. While the women were making wreaths, one of the men suggested we meet at the delicious dining establishment of McDonald's.

I was thinking about going. It would be fun but I was not sure that I wanted to spend the money. (Let's say that replacing the roof was not what we planned to do with our finances this year.) I wasn't convinced that I wanted to make the trip. It is a school night. Then Mary told the kids that I was going to take them and there was no way I could back out. So we went.

It was great fun.

We got there after a couple of the other families had already arrived and ordered. The woman behind the counter looked at me with my three kids talking to other people walking in the door and said, "There are a lot of guys with kids here tonight. Do you know each other?"

I smiled and said, "Yeah, most of us do."

I ordered and the kids ate quickly in the restaurant portion of McD's. There were two or three other families that we knew eating there. (You cannot go into the play place area until they have eaten or they just won't do it.) They disappeared to the play place once they were done. I cleaned up, grabbed the drinks, and headed back there. Once I opened the door, the noise was overwhelming. The front part of McDonald's had about five customers in it. The play place had about 10 dads and some 35-40 kids.

The agenda for the evening was:

• Four Big Mac Challenge — Danny, the event organizer, offered to pay for four Big Macs, if anyone could eat them in one sitting. Derek took him up and pounded the Big Macs in a matter of a couple of minutes. Danny has photographic proof of the last bite.
• Technology Update — Matt showed a prototype of a new iPhone based technology that he is working on. He explained what it does and talked about the manufacturing process for the prototype and the production version.
• The Geopolitical Climate — Dave and Jim lead a discussion about the emergence of China on the global economy and the possibility of instability due the unique Chinese demographics. This lead into a wider discussion of the effect of the bail out on our economy and other developments around the globe. It was interesting to hear different perspectives on recent happenings.

Now it might not have been a typical Enrichment program or held at a typical enrichment venue, but I left feeling man-riched.

(Well, I also felt a little sick. Though I did not eat much, I think most of the men left with that feeling that can only come from eating fast food. Ah, what some endure to eat something they like but only while they are eating it.)