After All

This is a picture of my nephew Homer and I "enjoying" the It's A Small World ride at Disney World. Alas, we were all coerced into going on the ride because it's my Mom's favorite (why, why, why... oh why?). And if one of us had to ride it, we were all gonna have to ride it. All for one, and one for all... we traveled thousands of miles, dammit... we were going to have fun! Of course, Mom didn't appreciate it much when, as the boat started moving forward on it's looooong, slow trip through repetitively obnoxious cuteness, Nancy and I threw our hands in the air roller coaster style and hollered, "WooHOOO!"

I would say that Homer is my favorite nephew, but then my posts here would end, bein' as how I'd get lynched by all my other nephews. And, truth is, I love 'em all dearly and equally. I will say that Homer is the one whose sense of humor most closely matches mine (read: the poor man is totally warped). Granted, one could argue that it was perhaps my early influence on his life. As a teen when he was a toddler, I often got suckered into babysitting. Not that I minded, he was a very easy kid to take care of - the kind who'd play quietly for hours. Of course, there was the time I thought he was playing contentedly (and he was!) while I made out with my boyfriend. When I resurfaced, it turned out that what he'd been playing so contentedly with was a huge jar (think Costco) of Vaseline. It was everywhere - on his clothes, in his hair, all over the furniture and the floor... my brother's living room looked like it'd been hit by a fairly successful orgy. Ahem...

It could also be argued that he got his great sense of humor from his late mother, Mary. She was definitely a kindred spirit and kept me in giggles whenever we were together. Or perhaps it's his inheritance from my perfectly sarcastically amusing brother, Tom. Maybe all of it. Either way, the dude's funny and fun to be around. Besides all that, he is, simply put, a good man. He's one of my favorite people on earth (it doesn't hurt that he gets me into Disney for free).

At risk of never being invited back to Disney again, I just have to post an email conversation I had with him yesterday. It still has me laughing, that's why. I had sent him a couple of emails that included pictures of the big snow we had here last month. Here was his initial reply (keep in mind that he's a cold weather wuss because he's lived in Mouseville most of his life):

Homer: That's impressive but you should've seen the layer of ice on my car this morning. Last night was the coldest of the year, 28 was the high overnight.

Barb: This is what happens when the Black clan descends on a place... it's epic.

Homer: It was horrible! I was freezing! And there were rolling blackouts. I had to fumble around in the shower in the pitch black this morning. Do you know how hard it is to shave by flash light!

Barb: As a matter of fact I do... when we got all that snow I was without power more often than not for a week. Oh, and my water heater is electric. Got any idea how cold unheated water can be in a snow storm?! I coulda poked someone's eyes out. (Yeah, try wiping that vision from your head!)

Homer: Ya know...sometimes I wonder why I talk to you at all!

Personally, I think he still talks to me just for the cheap entertainment value. My loco familia... good thing we all like nuts.