Remember that show? Lamb Chops? It wasn’t on for very long. In Chicagoland, channel 11 was the PBS station, and Lamb Chops aired sometime between Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers. I don’t even think Barney existed at that time, but I can’t be sure.

I asked Thomas if he remembered it. “Yeah. It had that annoying song that’s about to get stuck in your head.” Jerk.

We had a Lamb Chops puppet too. Never in a million years did I look at that puppet as a child and think, I’m gonna grow up and have sheep in my backyard and then eat lamb chops for dinner. Funny how life works out, isn’t it?

So Thomas and I are thinking about sheep. Yes, sheep. And since I’m dead set on getting a mini potbelly pig someday, we may have to name it Babe so it can run around our little flock of sheep and Thomas can say, “That’ll do pig.”

As we were discussing this, I wanted some clarity. “Thomas, you know I love lamb. It’s delicious. But I’m not sure I can handle Effie the Sheep giving birth and us pulling her little lamb baby away and taking it to the slaughterhouse. So we may just have to deal with mutton.”

Thomas’ response was just proof that I don’t know what I’m talking about when it comes to farming or livestock. He laughed, then explained, “The lamb you eat is more like a young adult. It’s not like the cute baby lamb you always see Jesus holding.”

I laughed, because that’s exactly what I was picturing.