Bob got the glory

You're going to want to click on this:



The kitchen of Bob and Mary Ann Roncker. Maile did the work. BOB GOT THE GLORY.

I'd heard about this photo. Mom told me a while back that there was some official photo taken of her kissing dad's cheek in their new kitchen and I responded by making a very mature gagging noise.

She said it was for Cincinnati Magazine and I thought it was an article for the home section or something. Yesterday I did laundry at their house and she whipped this out. It's an ad for the company who recently redid their kitchen.

I studied it. "So, mom, why are you kissing his cheek?"

"Uh, I don't know," she said.

"Did dad pay for the kitchen?" I wondered.

"No, I did," she said.

"So you're just happy about it in general," I said. "You're not, like, thanking him?"

"It's advertising," she replied. "This sells with, you know, the older set."

A-ha. What I find funny about this picture, besides the fact that mom's sweater has elbow patches (LOVE THAT) and the random green banana on the counter next to my dad is that he looks so pleased with the situation, like he's thinking, "Yeah, I got it. You know what I'm talking about...THE GLORY."

Which is not at all his personality.

More likely, mom told him one day that the kitchen should be redone and he had just come back from a run or woken up from a nap and was like, "Wha?" And "That sounds nice, honey," and then she did it. I'm not saying he didn't have input and they weren't a team about it but glory on his part might be pushing it.