Hey Becca, it's your anniversary, and mine!

...

We've been wed a while now. We should open that 20-year old can of Nuteena today.
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Here's the plan: we listen to a bunch of ABBA and Judas Priest. And then wing the rest. #planner

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In response to your upcoming inquiry: sadly, the answer is yes. The children DID get into the dark chocolate peanut butter cups you just got. I failed to stop them. I am so, so sorry.

P.S. The hashtag you invented is awesome.

#15andout

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If someone was to get you either a giant television OR a motorcycle today, which one would you most prefer? #hypothetical #ornot

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I don't want to freak you out, but Costco has Christmas stuff out, and I'm afraid if we don't jump on it now, everything will be gone. Shall I grab an extra cart and throw in everything I can fit? I'll get some straps to tie down stuff on top of our automobile too. One fake tree, or three, just to be safe?

#holidaypanic #valentinesdayiscomingfast

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OVERHEARD (ANONYMOUS).

Let's look for a new mother on Pinterest,
one child grumbled to another with wicked grin.

No.
I said.

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"Well-read people are less likely to be evil." *

So true, mostly. Doing our part to try and make the world less evil, along with the magnificent, personable Washougal Community Library. Thanks for being awesome and un-wicked.

*Mr. Lemony Snicket

HEY BECCA, YOU BARELY LOOK LIKE SPOCK ANYMORE.

Hey Bec,

Just so you know, I had a mini-uprising on my hands when I suggested we watch an episode of Star Trek tonight:

"No!! We ONLY watch it when Mama's here!"

Peeps got yo back, even when your husband doesn't. Happy 14, Dear, although I will say that when you called earlier, I was right in the middle of listening to Hole's Violet, which is, like one of the greatest songs ever, and I turned it off to take your call, so there's that as far as gauging my level of affection after one-point-four decades. I woulda let anyone else go to voicemail. I truly love you more than Courtney Love, and possibly even Claire Huxtable.

Thank you for still finding a mild level of enjoyment at my inerring and unswerving normalcy. I feel we continue to be well-matched on that highway.

Adieu, ciao, je t'adore, later dude.

-Josie

P.S.
Happy Anniversary

FIVE THINGS THAT MAKE MY HEART ALIVE TODAY.

© joseph ivan long 2015

1. Discovering that longtime fave British art-punk band Clinic somehow had a great little 2010 album, Bubblegum, that slipped past my radar.

2. Seeing our daughter's joy at getting a package in the mail today from a summer friend, and hoping that perhaps these friendships will help keep the U.S. Postal Service alive so that my children and children's children won't have to go to a museum to find out what a postage stamp is.

3. Watching children play with marbles.

4a.
The Decemberists' Wrong Year,
Colin Stetson's The Sun Roars Into View,
Sleater-Kinney's Hey Darling

4b. Janelle Monáe.

5a, I. My parents. Who have been married a hundred years as of today. The exact number of years escape me. If you were to round to the nearest hundred, it would technically be zero, but since that doesn't work we'll stick with a century. Today, specifically, I am appreciative for two things they have passed along:

5a, II. a willingness to laugh at themselves and not spend lives consumed with what others might think of them.

5b. an ability to give attention. Attention that is focused and veers between quiet and loud; the kind that makes you feel special. And always loved.

5d. a love that is sincere, vibrant, positive, often hilarious, and built around not perfection, but constant improvement. A model well worth observing and learning from.

Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad.

TRIBUTE: Jonny & Meilani.

You two are like the wind beneath the wings of the world, except the world doesn't have wings. The world is held up by science, not wings. But if it had wings, you two would be like a hurricane - a gentle, ferocious, kind one - holding the world aloft, and occasionally hiccuping it around like Atlas. Except the world is not held up by Atlas either, and a wind in conjunction with wings would probably be too much for him to deal with. But if it was possible for the world to be held up by wings, and it wasn't too dangerous for there to be a strong yet cautious wind underneath those wings, then I would definitely think of the two of you as being the wind that would provide a breeze beneath those wings, which would certainly make the task of holding the world aloft with only wings a lot more comfortable, especially if the temperature was soaring, because a wind is nice when it's hot; it is important to be careful of thermal collisions that can happen with the wrong combination of heat and high winds, but overall I think it's possible to have a wind that could be very beneficial to the wings of the world, and if the world did have wings (it doesn't) then you two would be my choice to be it; given that you're humans and not wings (or wind; a fact I am glad for) I still feel that your presence in the world is a beneficial one, and one for which I personally am thankful for, like a cool wind on a hot day; I would caution however, about being a bitter wind on a cold day, or even a warm breeze on a hot day, as that can negate the positive aspects of having wind beneath your wings.

You are a sort of wind beneath our wings of the world (this is not completely literal; see above). Some birds cannot fly, but if they tried harder (or had the right wind) they probably could. And I would imagine if anybody could be the wind that would lift an ostrich into flight (or even the world) it would be the two of you. Thank you for being windy. Love you both, Meilani and Jonny. You're like the wind (see above).

Always,

Joseph

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Go big or go home.
Unless you're already at home.
Then you can do both.
But you should probably go somewhere else away from home too,
because it's good to get out and travel.
I hear the bungee jumping is good in South Africa.