TONY ROMAS

The funniest part of my trip would have to be going to Tony Romas. This was a very nice bbq restaurant in Uptown Richland, The mood was such that the lights were dim and I felt I should place my napkin in my lap. It was "All you can eat Ribs" night. To take advantage of the opportunity, my mom and Jason ordered it up.

It really didn't matter what kind of restaurant it was, because before you knew it, the Lloyd reunion started. Jason and my mom were in competition to see who could eat the most ribs. My mom, so delicately started on her food with her napkin around her neck.
Jasons approach was: devour like a beast, tearing into the meat. They both finished the first rack and moved on to the second...still with smiles on their faces.

Jason would flaunt his bones like they were a trophy. The ribs were still going down good with his strategy...and mom was still hanging in there...plucking away, cleaning the bones. By this point, they were joking around and we were laughing so hard, the old people at the table next to us thought we had too much to drink or something. I thought they were going to kick us out...but we all cheered as they conquered the 2nd rack.

The third rack of ribs came and you could see their eyes full as the last rack landed on the plate. They took a big sigh, looked at there rack like there was no way it was going down...but neither one was going to loose. There was no turning back. The race was still on...but inching and crawling toward the finish line.

Jason swallowed each bite in pain as he tried to coax mom into quitting. He would say words like "swallow the gristle" just to get to her mind...it didn't work. He even tried putting half eaten ribs in the bone pile..he was going down and everyone could tell.

Mom kept her cool, and would give Jason this look like she wasn't struggling at all. Telling him to step-it-up or step-it-out. Soon, the table became quiet from the roaring laughter, and the competition became serious. Was anyone going to order another rack of ribs??

They both called the competition and it came to an end. But as we all know in the Lloyd family, mom always wins and mom's always right. Jason lost and walked out with his face covered in barbeque sauce and hanging his head in shame.

Can't wait till the next reunion