A True-Blue Cougar Eat Memory

Don't we all share memories of the Cougar Eat.  This is one of our personal favorites.

We had returned to BYU to do some additional research for a degree.  By this point we were not longer carefree, but the parents of three children ages,7, 5 and 3.  My husband and I had taken a little time out for a study date at the Harold B. Lee Library.  Even though it was a working date, it was wonderful to be alone together, just the two of us.

After counting our change, we had enough money to order one "Navajo Taco" that could be shared by both of us.  My husband got in line to await our food and I sat at one of the tables.  In came a woman and several children who were about the same ages as our own.  Since we were sitting only a table away, I couldn't help but hear their conversation.

The anxious mother asked each child the same question, "Which one did you like best?"

One little boy said, "I liked Michelangelo!"

Another girl chimed in, not to be outdone, she said,  "No, I like Leonardo best!"

The youngest who couldn't have been more than three said, "I wike Raphael."

While waiting in line my husband could also hear the same conversation.  He returned to the table with a crushed expression on his face.  "What have we done wrong?  Why don't our kids know all of the great artists like those kids do?"

I thought for a moment about the exhibits at the art museum, the displays at the Lee Library, but I couldn't think of a thing that highlighted these great artists of the Renaissance.  What in the world could be on campus that would produce such excitement in the minds of these little children?  Then I remembered and smiled.

My response to my stricken husband was quick. "They forgot Donatello. Those are the names of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Their movie is showing on Campus today!"