supper, soup and strangeness

bizarre occurrences do happen from time to time at our dinner table.  on this particular evening a few weeks back, we were having canned soup on a busy afternoon with after-school activities and evening wrestling practice leaving a very small window of time for supper.  so, i went to the trusty cans of Campbell's soup (which i had in my basement grocery store) with a tossed salad, figuring it would work in a time crunch when Jeff was busy with a dinner meeting and i was the only driver going to and from point A to B...

usually we do okay with this option, even though we all know canned soup isn't nearly the same as homemade soup.  it lacks the fresh, flavourful taste they've come to love in my cooking....hahaha :)  on this particular day the thick creamy texture of the flavour choice i thought looked great in the picture~ well, it was a bit much for poor little AJ.  all the kids (including myself) were struggling a bit.  i was pushing them along to eat up and "git 'er done" with promises that i would not choose this kind again.  as AJ neared the end of his tiny little bowl, he gagged and proceeded to throw the entire contents of his stomach right back into his soup bowl.  his aim was impressive.  he looked stunned, we all had a moment of shock at how fast this had happened, and his eyes got large and he seemed to have this moment of panic when he finally uttered the words, "am i going to have to eat that???"  i think it was Adam (mini Jeff) that confirmed in all seriousness that he would have to start again and eat it all over.  the rest of the table erupted in hysterical laughter.  i was laughing too as i reassured him that he was off the hook for the soup and that once was more than enough....well, directly across from AJ sits Layla, aka supper giggler.  her laughter was escalating, and it is worth noting that this is never recommended when you've just put a large bite of tossed salad in your mouth.  less than two minutes after AJ's "episode", Layla started to choke on her salad.  the laughter continued with the children, but i was quickly assessing that she was in fact showing all the signs of a compromised airway (i'm rusty, but not completely useless :)).  i went over to her, reassured her that i was there to help, told the laughing children to contain themselves as their sister was visibly in distress.  she was red-faced and coughing now, and lo-and-behold, she finally was able to free her obstruction by throwing up her stomach contents too!  lovely!  the salad now resembled more of a salsa, or chutney~ and only when it hit her plate was she able to feel relief and resume her giggling.  well, let me tell you, the remainder of supper was a complete write-off.  it was crazy funny though, and an evening that for some weird reason i want to remember and look back on.  so, this is why you are privy to such appetizing details too!  you're welcome! back to more appropriate and less nauseating topics next week.