Swine

I just got back from an amazing weekend in Boston.  There was no big party, no event, no concert or big game.  It was just a weekend with my two besties.  We went out to eat, sat on the couch and talked, went out to eat, walked around Boston, went out to eat and just hung out for 3 hours, talking.  It was amazing.  I miss my girls so much.

One of the things that came up was a story from some time ago.  I thought I'd entertain you in case you decide to check back on Monday morning and need some cheering up.

This happened about 3 years ago.  Jon and I were engaged and still working at the same company.  It was unheard of for us to work together since by now everyone knew we were 'together' together. However, this time they were short on staffing, so I was sent out with Jon to a school near Boston to collect some data.

We went to Tufts, the veterinarian school, to collect data for a consulting job we had.  Jon and I stayed there for 2 days, walking around every building, counting things like fire extinguishers and inventorying rooms.  We were sometimes escorted by a manager to allow us access to some of the locked facilities.  By the second day Jon and I were more than half-way through and the gentleman came to meet us after lunch to drive us to a second location.  We reviewed the map and I exclaimed that we were due to visit buildings Swine I and Swine II.  I was so excited!  I asked Jon and the manager if they thought that we would see real swine.  This was possibly the most amazing day of my life!  I had never seen a large quantity of swine before.  I couldn't believe I'd get to come near them.  Jon and the manager exchanged puzzled looks, but I payed them no attention.  I was going to see swine!  Real-life swine!  In large quantities!  We proceeded to the next location.

When we arrived at Swine I the manager handed us booties to put on over our shoes.  I was so confused - why did we need booties?  We put on the plastic booties over our shoes and followed the manager into the building.  The smell was devastating.  My eyes teared involuntarily, my nose was running, and I could barely breath.  I looked at Jon with inquiry.  Why did it stink so bad?  We started taking counts and descriptions of the rooms that were full of pigs.  There were so many pigs.  And they were so smelly!  They were everywhere!  We even walked into a room where the pigs were bred and little piglets were nesting under heat lamps.  I had to go outside just to take a breath of fresh air.

We finally finished our inventory and stepped outside.  Jon looked at me and I couldn't contain my disappointment.  "That was horrible," I told him, "but where are the swine?"  Jon looked at me and then smiled, "Kat, what do you think swine are?"  I didn't understand his question.  What exactly did he mean by that?  Didn't everyone know that swine was the plural word for swan?