My dearest Tabitha has reached another milestone in her life. It’s been a tradition, on the nights before I travel, that we take the family out to dinner. I asked the kids what they wanted, and all of them wanted to go get cheeseburgers.

In Frazier, PA, there is a Cheeburger, Cheeburger restaurant. As you walk in the door, they have a corkboard with pictures of adults who have eaten a one-pound burger, and kids who have eaten a half-pound burger. Tabitha had tried about a year ago to eat the half-pounder to get on the wall, but she gave up before she was finished. This time, though, she was determined.

I don’t know if she’ll ever win a competitive eating competition, because she doesn’t eat quickly. She just doesn’t stop. She would patiently take a few bites of her hamburger, then reach for her root beer and take a few sips. The rest of the kids lost interest in the food after a while, but Tabitha just kept slowly eating. At home, she’s the last person to leave the table, asking for seconds and thirds. In this case, we had all finished eating, and we started to watch Tabitha reach the end.

As she was eating her last bites, she realized that she was going to finish the burger, and started to ham it up a bit. She held up the last bite for me, Sarah, and the rest of the restaurant to see, before she put it mouth and smiled.

The waitress was amazed, and one of the other workers at the restaurant brought out a large hamburger-shaped pillow and a digital camera. He announced Tabitha’s achievement to the entire restaurant, including her age, and took her pictures. A few minutes later, he came out with two hard copies, both of which Tabitha wrote her name on. One pictures ended up on the wall, and the other we brought home with us.

Sonya Thomas… you’d better watch your back.