Sunday, January 31, 2010

Thursday, it was the cat

Dear Dan,

Only "yesterday," it was you! On Thursday mom woke up in a panic. She had been napping. When mom woke up, she was pretty disoriented. She couldn't think where she was, where she needed to be, if I had gone to work or where the cat was. She realized I had gone to work and the 4:00 on the clock was 4:00 PM, not AM.

But was the cat in or out?

Always a good question because the cat plays the "in and out" game. Alex said they have a saying in Germany: The cat is always on the wrong side of the door. That describes Miss Iggy down to her toenails.

Mom look in all the usual places: under the computer desk, behind the chair in front of the big plant, on the chair in front of the big plant, in the closet, on my bed, on the two chairs in the living room, in the corner in  front of the window, on HER bed and no Miss Iggy to be seen. She tried calling and of course there was no response.

Finally she looked behind the curtain. There was Miss Iggy, sound asleep.

Legend has it that the same thing (or nearly so)  happened with you. Mom woke around 4:00 one morning with her "mom sense" telling her that something was amiss. She got up and checked all the beds. Scott was in his, I was in my crib, Dad was on the road as usual and you were ... MISSING!

She started the search though the house. She called; she checked the doors and found they were still locked. No Dan.

By 4:30 she was ready to lose her mind and about to call the cops. But what could she tell them? You were missing from a locked house? That the only people who had keys were either in the house or out of town?

Then she saw the curtain move, very slightly but it moved. She yanked the curtain back and there you were, standing on the window sill. You said you were waiting for the milkman. That was all the explanation she ever got from you. Why you didn't come out to see what all the fuss was about and why you didn't once respond to you name being called remains a mystery to this day.

Silly.

I love you, bro.

Monday, January 18, 2010

George's eyes

Dear Dan,

This past weekend I went to see "Up In The Air." Once again I was struck by the similarity of George Clooney's eyes and yours. You both have big brown, very expressive eyes with long, luscious lashes. There were moments in the movie when his smile didn't quite reach his eyes. Other times there was that twinkle -- just like yours!

In this movie, George had a job similar to the one you had with Sprint years ago. The sales and motivational one. You didn't go around the country firing people but George had a job where he was rarely home.

Then came the point where he wanted to have a place to call home and not be so "transitional." That made me think of you even more. The house in Kansas City was your pride and joy.

Needless to say, I came out of that movie very depressed. I think from now on I will watch George only in comedies.

I love you, bro.