Society of Stampaholics

Robert Nolan, Rest in Peace

We are very sad at our house right now as Spouse's Uncle Bob passed away from a massive heart attack. We became aware of his weak heart only recently, and the irony of his condition is not lost on anyone who knew him, for his life bespoke of a man whose heart was mighty.

Bob's generosity was well-known and his home was always open to any member of the Nolan clan - which is saying something, let me tell you! Since he resided in the suburbs of Washington, DC, there were many of us who had cause to "drop in" and stay awhile. Spouse had a particularly long stay at "Hotel Bob & Hilda" when he did his graduate internship at the Folger Theatre (which lasted an entire semester).

Bob was recently experiencing some extra strain since Aunt Hilda was not recovering as well as could be hoped from an earlier fall and injury. He was independent and determined to take care of her himself - they had been married for more than 50 years, and I find that kind of devotion inspiring. He went into the hospital for a minor procedure and was in good spirits in the recovery room when his heart failed him.

Thank you, Uncle Bob, for all the kindness you showed all of us... you were a prince among men and you shall be sorely missed.

Spouse's sister Kathy with Aunt Hilda and Uncle Bob at the last family reunion.

Random Observations

It's Friday night, and I think my retinas are officially fried.

I have spent no less than 67 hours in front of a computer monitor this week, and I suspect that, in addition to the retina thing, I have a blister on my backside from sitting in this chair for so long. (I think I got up to go to the bathroom on Tuesday, but it's all just a blur to me now.)

Despite my near-blind state, I've been tooling around the Internet for the last two hours, visiting blogs, leaving comments (I know - unbelievable, right?), drooling over eye candy - stuff I haven't been able to do for the better part of a month. I am able to do this because Spouse is in the bedroom watching The News Hour and talking back to all the public officials who have outraged him this week.  

I don't think he's shut up since it started.

Gigi is glued to the television. She has recently discovered Seventh Heaven and is clearly enamored, if her blow-by-blow recaps are any indication. I had never seen the show before but I'd heard it was Chock-full of Family Values. After watching about five minutes it was clear there was going to be A Moral, and the father was a minister who had managed to sire about a dozen children - all of whom were unrealistically polite to one another, and the house was very large, very nice and very NEAT.

I didn't know it was a fantasy program! BONUS!!!

Does anyone else appreciate the irony here?

Well, I hear the theme music for America's Funniest Home Videos. This means I need to go be with Gigi because she LOOOOOOOVES this show. She loves this show so much that she can't bear for anyone else to miss it - although I am allowed to avert my eyes when people go flying through the air until a tree stops them. Or drive their bicycles into suddenly opened car doors. Or jump right off the trampoline to land neatly on their heads in the rock garden. (I have tried to explain to her that she will not understand my aversion to injury until she's a mommy, but she's not buying it. But this is the child who finds the sight of a chair collapsing beneath a Shriner hysterical - especially when his little fez gets flattened.)    

So I'm off, but I have plans for tomorrow!

My Favorite Nephew

I'm back from reunioning!

I love Spouse's family reunions because he has the kind of relations you wish you got to see more often. His father is the youngest of three brothers, and every three years The Patriarchs (as we call them) and their offspring reunite to catch up, drink beer, play golf, and goof off (not necessarily in that order). 

In short, we have a blast.

I know lots of people who would rather have their gums scraped than go to their spouse's family reunions. But not me - I loooooove my husband's family! 

Spouse's eldest sister, Kathy, is the one I relate to the most (probably because I'm an eldest child, too). Plus her husband Jack and I are the "liberal" spouses in a group of conservatives. (Actually, I believe that most conservatives and liberals are in agreement about 90% of the time, so it's not like we're THAT different but Jack and I catch a fair amount of grief for that 10% difference.)

But that's okay. (We know we're the smart ones.)

Aaaaanyway, Kathy and Jack have three sons: Sean, Daniel and Andrew, whom I have known since they were approximately 6, 4 and 2. Sean is in the Air Force, Dan is getting ready to attend a graduate program in copy writing, (as in advertising) and Andrew is on the brink of graduating from college.

I don't remember when it started - I think Sean was about 14 or so - but I told each one that he was my Favorite Nephew.

Which was TRUE! They just weren't all my Favorite Nephew at the same time.

They caught on to this state of affairs rather quickly, and it's been our own little inside joke for quite awhile. (I've found it's also useful when I'm too lazy to go get something in the other room. EXAMPLE: "Did I tell you that you're My Favorite Nephew, Dan? Yes, it's true. Sean's been slacking and Andrew blew it when he didn't drive down for Christmas last year!... Oh, and could you please bring me a beer?")

See how handy that is?

I adore my nephews and always look forward to seeing them. Unfortunately, I haven't seen Sean in eight years because Uncle Sam's schedule conflict's with Aunt Deborah's. So Dan and Andrew have had a corner on my affections, and now that they're all grown up, they're even more fun.

I've decided it's time for a tribute!

(Actually, I just wanted to post these hilarious pictures I took of them at the reunion, and this looked like a good subterfuge.)

Top 10 Reasons I Looooooove My Nephews

1. They are smart. (Dan, in particular, is uber-smart.)

2. They are funny. (Andrew can make me laugh without even opening his mouth. When he was about six, he did an imitation of an exploding jellyfish and I fell OUT. It's the only time I've ever spewed Diet-Coke out my nose. I've been very careful ever since to not pay attention to him when I'm swallowing. Sometimes this is tricky - I nearly choked to death three times during Christmas dinner of '03. At least I think it was '03 - kind of hard to keep your facts straight when you're oxygen-deprived.)

3. They are very sweet-tempered and good, GOOD men. I am quite confident that they will do the right thing no matter what situation they find themselves facing. If Spouse and I had to die and learned that Gigi was going to be raised by either one of them, I wouldn't worry about her well-being. She would turn out beautifully! (Unless Andrew was the one raising her. Then she would turn out beautifully and even sillier than she already is - yes, they share the Goofy gene.)  

4. They are cute. (Despite their resemblance below to America's Most Wanted.)

5. They are nice to Gigi. Dan, especially, plays along with her when she dreams up one of her schemes. (More on that one in a later post.)

6. They are fun to spend time with. I wish they lived here in Indianapolis so I could see them more often. I also need somebody to teach me how to play that one card game about golf. Because...

I've forgotten it.

Again.

7. They will bring me a beer when asked. ('Nuff said!)

8. They are old enough to actually GO GET the beer from the store when asked. (BONUS!!!)

9. They are not goody-two-shoes. Although I am not too privy to their private lives, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I'm preeeeetty sure they're far too cool to have never broken any laws governing ingestion. (Especially Andrew - he has That Look in his eye.)

10. They are never boring. I enjoy their company - always have, always will. For instance, they're very willing to be silly. On the first night of the reunion, the children had temporary tattoo books, so Dan and Andrew got into the spirit of things AND they posed for me.

Which brings me to the REAL purpose of this blog entry.

Don't they look like thugs from Candy Land?

Dan the Derelict. (What you're not seeing is the tattoo on his arm; "sassy" in pink letters isn't exactly hard-boiled, so I suspect he's overcompensating here.)

Andrew the... Scary.

Every daddy's basic nightmare. If Gigi ever brings home a boy that looks like this Spouse will probably beat him to death with his walker (being an Old Man and all).

(That alphabet on his arm is not only attractive but very useful... no more wondering how to recite the alphabet to the policeman that pulls you over....)

And here's what they really look like:

Don't they clean up nicely?

That's my mother-in-law, Peggy, and their father Jack (who was deliberately smiling in a cheesy way for this photo and who will probably kill me when he finds out it's on the Internet). 

Of course, I can only have ONE Favorite Nephew... and that will be the one who responds to the email I sent them both.

(If either one of you is reading this, please send me your digits and other contact info so I can harass you on a more regular basis.)

Until then...

Good luck with school, Dan!

Looking forward to seeing you walk in December, Andrew!