Meet Our Daughter, Laurie

Meet our daughter, Laurie Cotton Dupass.  

I bet you didn’t even know we have a daughter!  

That is a long story and here it is:

The Cottons were our very good friends.  I worked in the Nursing Home industry with Laurie’s biological father, Larry Cotton,  for years.  Initially we worked for the same company and later I was the Consultant Dietitian for the nursing home he ultimately purchased in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Larry and his wife, Patty had two teenage daughters, we had two slightly younger sons.  Our families frequently got together to watch football games, share Valentinos Pizza, Chinese carry out or for no reason at all.  And from time to time, Larry and Warren were known to have a little Courvoisier.

Once,  we gathered at the Cotton’s for a Minnesota Vikings vs the Washington Redskins game.  Warren and Larry decided to make a wager on the game.  Larry, a Norwegian through and through, was of course a stalwart Vikings fan.  The Stinson’s favored the Redskins for reasons obvious to those who know us.   At that time the team’s name was not embroiled in controversy.

The wager went like this:  The winner would get the loser’s house, wife, and two children. 

Warren won! 

 After his celebratory dance, he announced to all that after considerable consideration, he had made a decision about how the bet would go down.  He determined that Larry would be allowed to remain in the house with his wife and daughters.  However. Larry would be required to support Patty, Jeanie, and Laurie in a manner acceptable to Warren and that Warren would conduct unannounced, periodic audits to be sure this was being done.  

Larry passed the initial audits.  Then at one of our family get togethers, Larry challenged Warren to a pool game.  Another high stakes wager was made.  If Larry won, he got back full custody of his older daughter, Jeanie. Larry won.  I think his plan was to win them all back one by one over time in this manner. However, it never happened!  Warren continued to own the house, Patty, and Laurie.

So, while Laurie never lived under our roof, she technically remains our daughter.

Patty and Larry have retired to Ames, Iowa to be closer to their daughter, Jeanie, their grandchildren and great grandchildren.  Laurie continues to live in Omaha as does her daughter (and therefore, our granddaughter) Karen.  

Traditions are a big part of our lives and some must be carried on.  Karen and I made a wager on this years Viking vs Redskins game.  However, our bet was only a gathering for pizza at the place of the winner’s choosing.  Karen won.  Patrick and I had a delightful payoff dinner with Karen and her husband, Dana, at Zio’s following my loss.

Yesterday, our daughter Laurie came to visit Warren.  We had a great time remembering our many flights in her biological father’s airplane to their Minnesota cabin, how she became our daughter, our tree leafing party (that is another story I will write about some day), our deep discussions such as do evergreens actually stay green all winter, are bananas are alive or dead when we eat them, does Western Union send telegrams with explicit four letter words in them, should malt vinegar be served from a spray bottle, etc.  As you can tell, the topics of our conversations were perhaps strange by normal standards.  However, no one ever accused either the Cottons or the Stinsons of being normal and maybe not of having any standards.    We danced to our own drummers and stayed late to the ball!  

So now you know the story about how Laurie came to be our daughter.  Laurie is a long tenured day time server at Trini’s in the Old Market and loves it.  Should you go there,  ask for Laurie and tell her that her parents sent you. 

Laurie, thanks for your visit yesterday.  It was such fun to recall our family history and reflect on how good those years were.   We are very proud of you!