The Pig of our Demise

Future conversation between myself and a future acquaintance.

Acquaintance: So...your ex husband seems like an awesome guy. Why did you get a divorce?
Me: He was is awesome I still love him. I miss him. He was a good kisser.
A: So.......why the divorce?

(This future acquaintance is a tad on the pushy side. I am not sure if this friendship will last.)

Me: Well, we got divorced because of a pig.

Yes. A pig may be the cause of our ultimate divorce. (By the way, I am totally kidding here...kind of like the time I said The Coach cheated on me.............food cheated.)

Ty, our oldest, wants to join FFA. He has wanted to join FFA since he found out in the sixth grade what it was. Ty's regular every day uniform is jeans, boots, an Academy t-shirt, and a baseball cap - preferably camo. He is a hick. You may think, "Well you live in Texas, duh." Yes. We do. We live in Houston. Not everyone here wears a cowby hat and boots. Ty wasn't raised in a rural area. He was raised exclusively in the suburbs. He seems to be a throwback to some hick-ness in our genetic past. He hunts, he fishes. Not the Eddie Bauer type either. He likes to get dirty.

Back to the story.

We recently moved closer to "rural".
Ty is attending a different high school than he would have attended at our other house.
He seems to have found a group of soul mates at this school.
FFA - Future Farmers of America.

It is time for him to fulfill his life long dream of raising a pig. He is taking ag. and he wants to show the pig at the rodeo.

This is the topic of some discussions and some heated discussion on the home front.

One parent is going through the budget and schedules and thinking that what with a new house and all maybe now isn't the time to be paying for a pig, pig insurance, pig rent in a barn, pig chow, ag dues. Also maybe with Ty's new football schedule and pre AP classes it is a bad time to start feeding a pig twice a day, walking a pig, doing fundraisers for a pig, and showing a pig.

The other parent thinks since Ty is at a new school this would be a great way to make friends. This other parents may have forced Ty to be in band against his will for three years and figures it is time to let him do as he wishes. Not to mention raise money for college. (or a truck.)

The first parent does not think saving money by raising the pig in the back yard is a good idea AT ALL.

The second parent may have said something like, "Common sense can't be applied to every matter." when asked if this seemed like a logical idea.

The first parent says Ty has three other years of high school and can do it next year.

The second parent just really wants to let the kids try everything they want to try - within reason. (That parent did draw the line at fencing lessons.)

Here is the current decision.

Ty is to write up a detailed proposal calculating the cost of raising a pig. He is to present a plan for getting to the barn to feed and walk the pig. He is to find out how many meetings he has to attend and if they interfere with football. He is to find out how many bags of pig chow he can get relatives to donate. (Just kidding on that last one relatives.)

After that we are going to fight, er discuss it some more.

(Can you guess which parent is which?)