Bonding with Jiffy Pop Popcorn

[x-g.o.p.er]

So I just went and picked my daughter up from confirmation (hey, if I have to go through life as an angst ridden Lutheran, so does my kid, dammit!!) and we had to swing by the store to pick up a couple of things.

She sees the Jiffy Pop and says "what kind of popcorn is this that you can't microwave?"

Two things happened to me:

1. I felt very, VERY old.
2. I immediately recognized an opportunity to bond with my teen daughter.

I grabbed the Jiffy Pop, and on the way home explained that there was no microwave popcorn when I was a kid. She looked at me like I had a third eye in my forehaead, kind of like I used to look at my Dad when he told me he didn't have TV as a kid...they listened to the radio.

We come home, fire up the stove, and start shaking the Jiffy Pop back and forth. As it starts to expand, she thinks it's the coolest thing ever!! I don't know why, but she did.

So we sat and shared some Jiffy Pop, and for a little while, she was three again, and I was cool.

It was the best popcorn I've had in a very long time.

[yardwork]

1. That was far more successful than my usual efforts to bond with my kids over low technologies

We usually don't get past the "he looked at me like I had a third eye" phase.

[x-g.o.p.er]

4. I don't either,

but tonight worked out well.

[libnnc]

2. I popped some on the stove last night myself

Not JiffyPop, just plain grocery store brand popcorn and a little bit of peanut oil in my big stock pot. Best popcorn EVER. It's how my dad used to make it.

[x-g.o.p.er]

5. We used to make it with oil

on the stove, and then pour melted butter (not margarine, honest to goodness butter) on it.

Man, it was good.

[Dr. Strange]

3. I love Jiffy pop!

Haven't had it since my baccalaureate days.

[x-g.o.p.er]

6. I hadn't had it in years, either.

To be honest, I was surprised it's still around. But it was awesome!