I’ve been so busy lately I haven’t had time for one of my favorite past times: mocking Jamie and the Great Pumpkin.
Truth be told, it’s been a tough season to mock because he’s been skipping around like a giddy school girl. The reason? His pumpkin, Stanley, is his biggest ever and is one of the largest in Colorado.
He’s never had a pumpkin weigh over 1,000 pounds and Stanley has likely surpassed that mark with 30 days still left to grow. But this is when it gets scary. It’s not uncommon for pumpkins of this size to split and there are a myriad of things that could go wrong that would disqualify him from the competition.
His work schedule is a lot more reasonable these days vs. the 15-hour days of yesteryear so I honestly haven’t had an issue with how much time he spends out there because there is plenty left for us. However, I’ve been very forthcoming that my version of “quality time” does not include gardening so I rarely go back to the patch, simply monitoring its growth from the bedroom window.
On Friday night, he announced:
“You need to come to the patch to me.”
“OK, just give me a few minutes.”
“Make it quick. The light is perfect.”
Mood lighting? What was the guy up to? A make-out session under the pumpkin vines? Naught fella, that Jamie.
As soon as we walked out to the patch, I saw his ulterior motive.
“Can you take a picture of me with the pumpkin?”
“So this is why you wanted me out here?”
He didn’t argue so I snapped away.
Cuz it’s pretty tough to compete with a 1,000 beauty like her.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 