Thursday, May 4, 2006

A Written Request to Bud Light

To receive a Bud Light M&M Meat Shops Steak coupon without purchase please send a written request to Bud Light Steak In-case Promotion, P.O. 850, Moncton, NB, E1C 8N6. Limit of one request per household. All requests must include a one hundred word original essay on “Why I love to barbecue” along with the sender's name, return mailing address, the statement "I am of legal drinking age in my province of residence" and your signature. You must also enclose a self addressed stamped envelope with sufficient postage. Requests must be received before June 11th, 2006, the promotion closing date. While supplies last.
Must be of legal drinking age and a resident of Ontario.
Please allow 3 to 4 weeks for delivery.


The nostalgia of the Family-Barbecue is deeply ingrained within even the least of us; summertime bums themselves had a garbage-can of fire with which to sear a generously-donated piece of raw meat for their own indelible barbecue memories. I still hold up my end of the tradition today, gathering my small but slowly-growing family around the charcoal briquettes of our second-hand, football-shaped promotional grill, complete with the painted toxins so common among those items that were not intended for their eventual use. We laugh; we clink our Bud Lights together; we avoid mention of the crushing realities that drown out our happiness for even the most joyful of celebrations, preferring to ride the wave of good tidings that steak brings for as long as it lasts. We are united in our love of grilled meat; we pull together just as easily as we pull apart once the gorging is complete, going our separate ways, keeping to ourselves the various resentments and lingering disgust that would only serve to begin an argument should they be spoken aloud. Yes, the family-barbecue is the solitary light shone on an otherwise dank and sordid set of lives; the kind of beacon that allows all of us to remind ourselves that, hey, we’re all in this together...let’s eat some steak and then forget all about our temporary reconciliations.

We’re family, after all.

Sincerely,

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Ryan Lawson

I am of legal drinking age in my province of residence.