I'm currently eating Chicken Fried Chicken, with a side of hash browns, another of dumplings, and some green beans that I believe have been cooked in bacon. I'm drinking iced tea (unsweetened, though, because I'm not about that life) and I have a set of biscuits in the kitchen waiting for tomorrow morning - and I may or may not have contemplated ordering a piece of Double Fudge Coca-Cola Cake -
wait. Let me esplain.
Earlier today, I stumbled across one of the greatest social media - I don't know what you might call it, a story, maybe - things I've ever read, at any rate. And remember - I work in social media. Social media is where it's at.
Apparently, in February, a woman named Nanette, who was employed at an Indiana Cracker Barrel, was fired - on her husband Brad's birthday. He was puzzled as to why she was let go - varying reports state that she was a 5 star employee, had been employed for eleven years, was a customer favorite, and well liked by other employees, but the manager who let her go stated that "she wasn't working out."
Already, something sounds off to me, somewhere in that mix - but I don't work there and I don't have a bull in this herd, so whatever. The story behind the firing isn't really vital - just know that she was let go. Brad, being quizzical and, presumably, a fan of his wife, commented on the Cracker Barrel Facebook page:

And boom - a social media movement was born.

It took off like wild fire - people commenting on the Cracker Barrel Facebook page, asking for #justiceforbradswife. Asking why she was let go, and hijacking innocent comments on the Facebook page.

I read the entire thing, laughing until I cried. I read it to my kids, I read it to my husband - and all of a sudden, I wanted nothing more in my life than Hashbrown Casserole and Chicken 'n Dumplings.

Another, because I can't stop. This it the funniest thing I've seen in forever.
See, here's the thing - I grew up on country food. (It's true. I asked my mom, and she verified it for me. Ask her yourself if you want.) Carbs are my jam, my life, my comfort and my addiction. When I first started having kids, and money was super tight, my mom would take us to Cracker Barrel, and it was always a treat. I love it there, more than is probably wise to mention.
My husband is a born and bred New York City native and he hates it at Cracker Barrel. He refuses to eat there. He has no soul. We leave him at home when we go, the kids and I. Occasionally, if I'm having a really onerous day - I will go by myself and have lunch.
One of the best parts of Cracker Barrel, that has zilch to do with food, is the store. I roam around, checking out the candies (I mean, really, when was the last time you saw a Zagnut or Clark bar?) I smell all of the pretty candles that I'll never buy, look at super cute baby outfits - and if my kids go, you can bet they will play a game or two of checkers or the infamous jump the peg game. (I tried to link the candies to the CB page but they don't sell them online. More's the pity.)
It's kind of a tradition with my kids that I will always buy a candy stick for them after we eat. My mom will often buy me the sugar sticks - the ones that look like candy canes but without a hook and much softer and sweeter. I've bought jewelry there - tonight, I bought some gold hoops earrings - and I bought my sister in law a beautiful navajo turquoise watch bracelet before she passed.
In fact, tonight I saw a couple of things my mom might like for her birthday. :)
I've bought copies of childhood favorite movies and tv shows - who here remembers Hong Kong Phooey?? Leave it to Beaver, My Three Sons, The Three Stooges - I've tried lotions and soaps and lip chaps and admired a very old cast iron stove replica from the turn of the century that I would have bought in a hot minute if I had the money.
I'd even buy a rocking chair, if I had a porch.
Cracker Barrel to me is kitschy, unique, fun, and intriguing.
When I ordered my dinner to go tonight, I commented to the waitress that #justiceforbradswife had brought me in, and she asked me what that was all about - she'd spotted it on the internets (!), she said, but she didn't have time to investigate. I started to explain it to her, and I was laughing almost immediately. By the time I got to the end, I was practically howling, and the pièce de résistance?
When she told me that people HAD CALLED OUR CRACKER BARREL, IN VIRGINIA BEACH, TO ASK ABOUT BRAD'S WIFE - WHO WAS FIRED IN INDIANA!

Driving home tonight, with my to go dinner packed up carefully in a brown bag, I texted my good friend that my truck "smelled like carbs, fat, gravy and pure happiness."
Even if there was no #JusticeforBradsWife, I had some HashBrown Casserole, and I'm calling it a win. ;)