Thursday, October 29, 2009

The Chops (Sommer family lore)


Dinner conversation a few days ago, Cannon said, "I wish I had a hatchet." (context for that remark: Cannon and I recently finished reading The Hatchet.)

I replied: "Uncle Matt had a hatchet when he was a little kid."

And then I proceeded with this story:
I made Uncle Matt mad and he was chasing me around the house. I went into the bathroom, slammed the door and locked it and I wouldn't let him in. Uncle Matt was so mad that he stomped down the hall, past my parents in the family room and told them, "I'm gonna get my chops!" The "chops" was located in the garage where all tools should be kept, especially small hatchets belonging to small boys. He brought his chops back inside, stomped back down the hall and started chopping down the door. For many, many years that bathroom door bore the marks. I can remember the confusion during the aftermath of this moment, parents getting upset for the chopping down of the door and at me locking my brother out and making him mad enough to chop the door down. Isn't that the greatest little boy logic? I can't get the door open. I have a "chops." I'm going to chop it down. Problem solved.

The next evening right after family prayer, Sommer blurted out, "I'm gonna get my chops!" Obviously she wasn't thinking about the prayer. She's asked me to repeat the story several times.

ps -- I'm not sure when the chops incident happened, how old uncle Matt was, but in the above picture we are 2,4,6,8 and 5-month-old baby Lindsey isn't pictured.

9 comments:

Lark said...

I love that story.
I don't think Lindsey was born yet in that picture, right?

Paige said...

The back of the picture says July of '83 so I think Linds was around, right? Unless it was taken a long time before that and developed later...

Shannon said...

Paige, that is absolutely hysterical! I am sure your parents didn't think so at the time, but what a great memory to laugh over at family gatherings. Thats the kind of thing I missed out on by being an only child - nobody ever came after me with the "chops"!

Kathi said...

That killed me Paige. Ok..so "chasing your sister" seemed to be the thing to do in the 80's. So does hiding out in the bathroom because my brother and I did the EXACT same thing. But I unfortunatly was not smart enough to lock the door. So, on the day of my 9th birthday, I rec'd a nice black eye from the doorknob of the bathroom door. (I was peeking thru the door jam to see if my brother found me)

Love those family memories huh?
Thanks for the chuckle! :)

Lynne said...

That's so delightful, Paige! There's just something about a houseful of kids--memories are priceless!

Sally said...

Great story! I never realized it, but your kids look a lot like Lark too! You can sure tell everyone is a Somner :). Beautiful family!

Torrie said...

oh my gosh!
i don't know if i would have told my kids that story! they might have tried it!
the picture is sweet!

K. Laura said...

I love that story Paige. Matt has told it to me before and I need to remember it when Luke and/or Seth start chopping down doors, yelling at sisters and otherwise destroying the peace and structure of my home. :-)

Matt said...

I'm pretty sure that the hatchet was Dad's but in my 4 or 5 year old brain, it was mine because it was my size. Dad already had a big axe. Also, I thought you and Lark were in there or you and a friend were in there because more than one person was screaming. Finally, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.