Fridge Magnet

One of the most memorable moments in my life came on November 2, 2016. For those who don't know me, I am a massive Chicago Cubs fan. My mom's side of the family had supported the Cubs for three generations, yet none had been able to witness a World Series championship. The Cubs had last won the World Series in 1908. Since then, the lack of a championship was attributed to the Curse of the Billygoat. The story goes that at the 1945 World Series, a man was not allowed to bring his goat to a game. As sensible as this may seem, the man was furious and cursed the team to never win a World Series again.  Many Cubs teams tried to break this curse, but despite several good teams, none were able to reach the World Series. Due to this, the Cubs earned the title of "The Lovable Losers." The 2016 season breezed bye with the Cubs finishing the best in the league. I enjoyed watching every game I could on TV. They reached the second round of the postseason again and were up again...

This past August, my family drove up to Minnesota to visit my uncle and aunt in St. Paul. They came down to Champaign two years ago, but we hadn't gone up to see them in a long time. Travel took the whole day from when we left at 11, until 11 at night when we got there. It was supposed to be a 7 hour drive, but there was a lot of construction which slowed things down, and we also stopped Wisconsin for lunch to stretch our aching legs. While the drive was very boring, the scenery got more interesting once we got out of Illinois and the perpetually flat landscape. My uncle and aunt got a new golden retriever puppy in the winter, who they named Winnie. They sent us photos of her as a small, cute ball of fluff when they got her. When we got to their house in the evening, we found that she had grown a huge amount when she came to meet us at the door. In addition to Winnie, they also have a large, fluffy, long-haired calico cat named Spot. It seemed like Spot was experiencing a lack o...