If Crabs Weren't Involved

Remember that birthday tribute video I promised you?  Yeah, it's still in the works.  (Really, it is.  We're just really busy at the moment.)  Well, anyway, one of my friends sent a video with a quote that has me dying laughing even when I think about it three months later.  Her words went a little something like this..."Lauren, Lauren.  Would I still be friends with you even if crabs weren't involved?  ...Mmmm... YES!"

Out of context, this statement could raise some eyebrows.  What Victoria is really referring to is the tradition we have of she and her husband coming over to my parents' house to eat boiled crabs (almost) every time Alex and I are in town.  This tradition started something like 10 years ago when she and her now-hubby started dating, and long before Alex as even a twinkle in my heart.

It's not like we set out to make visiting over crab boils a tradition or anything; it's just something my family does.  Lauren's coming to town (remember, I lived out of state for 5 years after college, before returning, and even now I live almost 4 hours from home)?  Oh, well...call everybody, we're having a crab boil!! Really and truly, my daddy is a real-as-it-gets Cajun man and bringing home 12 dozen, fresh beautiful blue crabs after a day in the marsh makes his heart swell with pride.  And so, we eat boiled crabs.

Every once in a while, Daddy Stu gets the chance to show off his skills by taking along a visitor to "help" bring home the proverbial bacon (aka crabs).  Several of my out of state friends have had the opportunity to accompany Daddy Stu into the marsh, and they always come back with some pretty fabulous stories.  Since Alex is a Louisiana transplant, he always jumps at the invitation to visit the marsh, especially when crabs are involved.

On the flip side, while this girl spent many a weekend catching fish and crabs next to her daddy, it's become much less frequent as I've gotten older.  Needless to say, when I decided to join the guys on their excusion a few weeks ago, my presence was long overdue.  But before we headed out, we called up all the extended family and told them to be on "crab watch," for surely a good dinner was in store.

Little did I know, Daddy Stu had lined up a little some extra for our trip that day.  His marsh neighbor friend happened to mention that he'd commissioned a friend of a friend to bring his airboat ride to their camp (think marsh-style weekend getaway home) to give rides for all the kids.    Stu knew this was the perfect opportunity to wheel and deal his way into setting up a little something special for his baby girl.

Believe it or not, in all my 28 years as a Cajun girl, I had never actually ridden in an airboat!  Needless to say, my eyes got big and my heart started pitter-pattering whenever that airboat trailer showed up and Alex leaked the secret letting me know that rides were in store for us!  Daddy Stu was beaming with pride as his special treat fell on happy faces, and he started snapping photos for days.

The ride was pretty cool.  It wasn't as fast or thrilling as it could have been since so many little ones were on board, but I was plenty excited for this first-time opportunity.  We even got the chance to ride donuts on land!!  So fun.

How about those crabs?  Well........ a storm was moving in so we rocked and rolled to get out to the cages and back before things got hairy.  Unfortunately, the water was very rough due to high winds and we had a tough time locating all the cages.  Even worse, our haul only totaled 52 crabs instead of the 144+ we usually score.

Being the Cajun he is, Daddy Stu wasn't satisfied with a measly little 4 dozen crabs.  On the way home, he pulled into a crawfish hut with plans to buy half a sack of medium sized crawfish, but left with a whole sack of large ones instead.  Ohhh Daddy Stu... And many of the extended family didn't even show!

Moral of the story - visit Cajuns and you won't ever worry about going home hungry!

-Lauren