Knight Stivender's life in full

Shelby Bottoms: skipping / throwing rocks in the Cumberland

Today, we had Yes Day.

We did not plan Yes Day. It just sorta happened.

Our group had decided around a fire pit Saturday night that Sunday would call for giant hamburgers, so around noon on Sunday six of us headed from my house in Franklin to the new Pharmacy Burger Parlor & Beer Garden in East Nashville.

Thirty-minute wait? No problem.

It’s January in Tennessee! With highs in the 60s, we let the two little girls with us – my Lily, 10; and Ryely, newly 9 – run around the back yard of the place.

We had a hard time figuring out what to order, what with 4,000 possible toppings (curry catsup, stroganoff bechamel, wasabi aioli) and an entirely separate menu for homemade fountain drinks, or “phosphates” with names like Kentucky Mint and The Ricky (which happens to be Matt’s alter ego when he is playing cards, which is why he ordered it). So we pretty much said YES to everything, sharing each others’ dripping, ridiculous burgers, tater tots, dipping sauces, sugary drinks…

Maybe it was Matt’s wife, Alicon, who was the first reckless yes. Even after we told the little girls, “No ice cream before lunch,” she ordered a chocolate shake and slurped it down pretty much before her veggie burger hit the table.

At The Pharmacy. From left: me, Courtenay, Alicon, Lily and Ryely

Our make-good was to promise a trip to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams a few blocks away.

We ate like a quart’s worth of samples, and then the girls and Matt ordered double-scoop sugar cones. Courtenay and I were totally responsible and got single scoops in a cup. Chocolate Shake Ali sat this one out.

Matt was not content with his two scoops, however, and very reasonably suggested we all order two more half-scoops apiece – selecting flavors for each other – and then share them around the table.

I’m the one who said, “Yes! Because this is going to be Yes Day!”

So after four or five more scoops of pure awesome – Goat Cheese with Cognac Figs, Bangkok Peanut, Wildberry Lavender, etc. – I asked if we could find a random place to dance.

“Yes!” was the group’s answer.

Yes Day: Random Dancing

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We drove to East Park, parked on Russell Street, unrolled my car windows, cranked up my stereo and danced in the grass. We all took a turn playing DJ, which meant we listened to everything from Taylor Swift to Coolio.

We dodged dog poop and taught the girls moves like “The Sprinkler”, “The Shopping Cart”, “Roger Rabbit” and “Running Man. Other people pretended not to watch, and one brave dog walker came over to ask what we were doing. I think she was impressed.

Then we drove to Shelby Bottoms and those of us who know how to skip rocks did that and those who like to just throw things did that instead.

Then we let the girls race around the playground.

Then we drove one car back to where the other was parked, and we did this is an unconventional yet wonderfully ridiculous way suggested by Courtenay (who also suggested I not include the exact specifics about it in this post.)

Then, with the sun setting, we parted ways.

Lily and I decided on a whim to catch a movie, Courtenay decided to drive two hours to meet her boyfriend for dinner, and I am hoping Matt, Ali and 9-year-old Ryely did something equally spontaneous to cap the evening.

Some days are great for cuddling on the couch. Others are best for anything but.

Those are Yes Days.