And I Quote "______"

Disclaimer: Some of this is repeat, but I'm going through saved drafts and thought I would share the original.



If you spend any time with me or any of my siblings you will come to find out that we have a sickness. We remember and frequently quote lines from movies, shows, songs, conversations, etc., etc.



We are storehouses of useless information and during a game of 90's Trivial Persuit, the dvd edition, my dad said he didn't know if he should be proud or disappointed. I have asked myself the same question many times. If only Jeopardy questions were about Friends, Full House, and Bon Jovi lyrics, I'd be worth millions right now.



My entire family can converse for nearly a half an hour and not actually speak to each other. One person will say, "Are you sure nobodys follow us?" and it is all over. We go from one scene to the next and retell The Princess Bride interchanging characters at whim. We really have quite a dizzying intellect. And if someone would say the phrase mostly anything, then it's on. Poor people who don't know and love the movie the way we do must hate us. And the sad things is we don't really care, it is a compulsion to finish the interplay. There is no prescription or 12 step program strong enough. Of course if it had a chocolate coating to make it go down easier, I'd be willing to give it a try.



Even more confusing to people is when we quote each other. There have been many times something has been said that is just so funny to us and we never let it die. A few years ago my mom was talking to my dad and said "son" at the end. As if she were a teenage skater boy. We laughed so hard, we couldn't even believe she had heard that to use it in context with the correct intonation and everything. So funny, so we remind her and she hates it, but we love that it happened.



Of course there are the things from childhood that you cannot get rid of and one such phrase is "Smell the honeysuckle". My mom would take us to the library when we were young. She would pile us in, tell us to behave, and we'd be off to the Howard County library for books. The parking lot had so many honeysucle bushes that in the spring and summer every time we would get out of the car she would say smell the honeysuckle in a high elated tone. Then when we'd come out to go to the car the same thing. Or if we'd be driving anywhere, and pass honesuckle, she would say, "smell the honesuckle" in the same tone. The excitement and contentment never wavered, always thankful for the smell, a sweet burst of heavenly sent wonderfullness. On occasion one of us will just say it out of nowhere. We all giggle because it is so funny to us, not really sure why, but it is. Sometimes I think my mom thinks we are making fun of her. And it isn't really. We tease her, but I know each one of my siblings loves that memory. We love the sing song way it sticks in our heads and we will never forget it. The last few weeks there has been honeysuckle in bloom along the highway I take home. I say to myself in the car, smell the honeysuckle in the same way my mom did. And if God ever grants me the blessing of having children of my own I hope to pass that on to them. A simple phrase that packs a wallop of imagery and memories.

Dream or Swinemare?

Last night I had a dream.  No this is not the lines from the oldies song.  I had a dream.  It was really weird and I have to tell you all about it.  You all being about seven people, but at least this is a slightly more modernized version of a mass email.  So here it is.  As written to my sister in an email earlier today:

I had a dream that I was at a pig roast, then when I had my food on my

plate it was a whole fetal pig, like we dissected in biology with Mrs.

Leffel.

I squeezed its nose to try to find out if it would come off and see what

to eat first and it started breathing and then it jumped off my plate

     and ran around and I started chasing it around the yard.

So there it is.  Not sure what else to say after that.  I'm just as "huh" as you are.