Peeled grapes

My kids were sitting at the table eating grapes on Saturday, and the youngest one asked me why

My family of grim reapers.

people used peeled grapes as eyeballs in haunted houses. And I explained that they're kind of the right shape (although the ones they were eating were not globe grapes) and the right size, and they're wet and slippery. I told him that it wasn't really what an eyeball felt like, but it was close enough for most people. Then we had the following conversation:

Oldest to me, "You don't know what an eyeball really feels like!" (He's starting to get very pre-teen in his outlook on life)

Youngest to oldest, "Dude, seriously?" (yes...this is how my youngest talks).

Me to oldest, "What does mommy do for a *living?"

Oldest, "Oh...yeah." *long pause* "What does an eyeball really feel like?"


*Not that I've had an eyeball since before grad school, and the ones I did get were for generally for melanoma. At Duke the neuropathologists did the eyes for surgpath and on autopsy the techs removed them and one of the pathologists who had an interest in eyes would dissect them (sometimes ophthalmology residents would come down for those).