What Made You Smile Today?

[Doctor Hmmm?]

You know the drill.

[Doctor Hmmm?]

Reminds me of a story about another little Paige with a doll.

My best friends' daughter turned 2 in late 1996 and we sent her a Tickle Me Elmo doll.  (You might remember the Tickle Me Elmo craze that year.  The Lovely and Talented -- always ahead of the curve -- picked one up for Paige that summer, before the craze caught fire.  By the time Paige's birthday rolled around, you couldn't buy one for love nor money.) 

We traveled to visit the family that Christmas.  Paige loved her doll, which (if you remember) giggled crazily when you squeezed it.  Paige was tiny, and didn't have the strength to squeeze Elmo hard enough to make him giggle.  But she was also smart, and solved that problem.  She would hug Elmo to her chest, run across the room and leap into a belly flop.  Hilarity (real and mechanical) ensued.

I danced with Paige at her wedding this spring.  I don't know if she still has the doll.

Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man said:

For my niece's birthday last week, I gave her (as a part of her abundance of gifts from her beloved Uncle Wandering Sensei) both a stuffed Ewok and a stuffed Chewbacca. It turned out the Chewie makes a growling sound when you squeeze him just right.

I got this text from my sister tonight:

"Paige is beside herself with trauma that she is having to clean the basement for her slumber party this weekend. She was frantically trying to pick up when I told her it was time for bed. She grabbed Chewbacca in just the right spot and he started moaning. I just heard her say, "Stop that! You're only making things worse!"

[Doctor Hmmm?]

When The Lad was little, I read to him every night. We read all sorts of things together, including all of Harry Potter. And when he turned 7, I began to introduce him to comic books. He loved them, and I bought him a pretty decent collection of TPB Masterworks.

He'll be 15 this fall, and it's been a long time since I read TO him, but we read TOGETHER every night. It's been a few years since I saw him actually read comics, but we always see the new MCU movies when they come out. The first "grownup " movie I ever took him to was "The Avengers." This weekend we saw "Endgame."

This evening, while we were reading together, he finished off the book he was reading -- Bill Bryson's "Made in America " -- left the room and came back with his copy of Avengers Masterworks #1. Said he was in the mood for some Avengers.

How cool is that?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Pretty cool.

[ClarkKent_DC]

Doctor Hmmm? said:

When The Lad was little, I read to him every night. We read all sorts of things together, including all of Harry Potter. And when he turned 7, I began to introduce him to comic books. He loved them, and I bought him a pretty decent collection of TPB Masterworks.

He'll be 15 this fall, and it's been a long time since I read TO him, but we read TOGETHER every night. It's been a few years since I saw him actually read comics, but we always see the new MCU movies when they come out. The first "grownup " movie I ever took him to was "The Avengers." This weekend we saw "Endgame."

This evening, while we were reading together, he finished off the book he was reading -- Bill Bryson's "Made in America " -- left the room and came back with his copy of Avengers Masterworks #1. Said he was in the mood for some Avengers.

How cool is that?

You taught him well. 

[Doctor Hmmm?]

And ... today The Lad turned 15. We read together, same as always. He just finished off Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce series -- he was skeptical when I suggested he try the first one, then plowed through all but the latest (which we don't own yet) -- and moved on to a Stuart Gibbs novel. I'm working on the Green Arrow Omnibus. It's all good.
So ... Happy Birthday to my best friend!

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

WHAT!?!?!

How old was he when I met you at the Children's Museum? Three?!?!

Doctor Hmmm? said:

And ... today The Lad turned 15.

[Doctor Hmmm?]

That sounds about right. He's taller than me now (and pretty smug about it).

[ClarkKent_DC]

ClarkKent_DC said:

I was at a funeral yesterday for a dear old lady who was a longtime member of my church. At the front of the church was a collage of photos of her and her husband, from their 60(!) years together -- hanging out with friends, with their children and grandchildren, on trips and such.

One in particular made me smile; it was them at one of their anniversaries, dressed to the nines, he in a tuxedo, and she in a white gown, both with happy smiles that could melt the Fortress of Solitude. I want to be them when I grow up. 

I just came across this old post from 2014. The lady's husband passed away this August. He was one of the coolest guys I've ever known, and I'm glad I once told him so. 

(Don't know why I wrote about "their children and grandchildren"; they didn't have any. Those must have been nieces and nephews in the pictures.) 

[ClarkKent_DC]

Amazingly, the writers on Veep didn't make this up: "Donald Trump's Lawyers Hold Press Conference at Wrong Four Seasons in Philadelphia."

[Richard Willis]

The writers on Veep didn't write this......because you can't make this &#!+ up.

ClarkKent_DC said:

Amazingly, the writers on Veep didn't make this up: "Donald Trump's Lawyers Hold Press Conference at Wrong Four Seasons in Philadelphia."

[ClarkKent_DC]

A return to tradition:

[ClarkKent_DC]

I visited my doctor today, which is fun because he always has lots of stories about the people he meets and deals with and his travels. (Like this one.)

Today, he told me that the neighbor who lives behind his house is the First Daughter and the First Son-in-Law. (Yeah, them.) He said that on Saturday, when the election in Pennsylvania was called, the neighbor who lives next to those two stood in her yard, holding up a pre-printed sign, which she clearly had had at the ready for a long time:

NOW WILL YOU GO BACK TO NEW YORK?