natural mistake

Rachel's book group read some Jane Austen novel, and Rachel really enjoyed it. She put the movie on our Netflix queue and we sat down to watch it together one evening after the kids were in bed.

A minute in, I sensed that Rachel was getting tense. Another minute went by, and she was very agitated. "I don't remember ANY of this, Joe," she said. Either her memory was starting to fail utterly, or the movie producers had done some horrible abuse to the story.

"That's because you read Pride & Prejudice and this is Sense & Sensibility."

"Thanks. I feel much better now."

Good for the Phillies? Or Bad?

Rachel and I took our son to a baseball game last night. I had scored discounted tickets, which was amusing when we realized it was Jewish Heritage Night. Nobody should pay retail for baseball!

Amusing observations about Jewish Heritage Night:

1. The electronic signs that normally display "Fastball 91 MPH" or the happy birthday listings were kvelling messages like "Sigmund Freud, the father of pyschotherapy, was a Jew" and "Jewish filmmaker Stephen Spielberg is the most successful director since the advent of film"
2. Best crowd reaction during a tepid game was for a kid with a Star of David flag, on which he'd written "Jew Gotta Believe"
3. The Phanatic danced the hora
4. The Phillies lost when Ryan Madson failed to hold the lead in the eighth inning. Why does bad stuff always happen to us?
   

So hard to tell anymore

My son brought home a picture book about the Trojan Horse from the elementary school library. I read it to him, and saw in the frontpiece a bookplate proclaiming that the book was donated in honor of Julia M's 8th birthday in November, 1992, with love from her parents.

I went on Facebook and found Julia M and sent her a note, explaining that our family had seen the tribute and wanted to wish her a belated eighth birthday. (She's a college graduate now. From Juliard, according to her FB profile.)

I never heard back from her. Which made me wonder, did I cross that line? The creepy old man line?

Two jokes diverged in a wood

This weekend, I had the two younger kids at the pool. Andrew was using flippers and Elizabeth was inside an inflatable ring, both borrowed from the poolside closet. In the pool with us were some friends from the neighborhood and a very attractive young woman who looked to be in her late 20s with her toddler.

When it was time for us to go, I helped Elizabeth out of her floatie. Before I returned it to the closet, I paused to offer it to the pretty lady. "Would your daughter like to use this?"I asked.

She looked surprised. "Excuse me?" she said.

Time slowed down. I considered my choice. I could get down on one knee and offer her a ring, which would be hella funny, but only if she got the joke. If she didn't, I would just be a really big dork. I took the conservative route.