Sometimes, in moments of crisis, it's instructive to look back in time to think a new about

the old family stories we once found so amusing.

Like the night of the Shrine Dance in Conway, South Carolina, way back in 1988, family stories

have a way of fusing fact and fiction together after a few dozen tellings, and this is one

of those.

It was getting late, the story goes, and Chris was getting antsy.

He'd wanted to speak with Nancy's father, but he knew the timing needed to be right.

When he finally saw his chance, Chris asked O'Neill Cannon to step outside.

And he said, Mr. Cannon, I would like to propose to your daughter and I want to ask for her

hand in marriage.

And my dad said, well, son, I got something to tell you first.

The followed was a long story about Nancy and a squabble she'd once had with her brother

Neal when they were kids, something about a backyard baseball game.

Anyway, this is how Nancy tells it.

He said, when Nancy was a little girl, she and her brother were playing ball in the backyard.

So whoever was catching was calling the strikes her balls, and Nancy happened to be catching.

And when she called her brother out on a strike, he got so mad.

He took the aluminum baseball bat in his hand and slammed it down on her hand that was

on the ground as she was catching.

And he said, oh, Nancy screamed.

What Chris was thinking as he listened to Nancy's father way back then, we cannot know.

But listen, he did.

...