Wonderful essay, but things like this always make me a little sad. I often wish I had memories like this from my youth.

As a Seattleite I'm a Canucks fan by default (when I'm not at an Everett Silvertips game), but if the Canucks weren't going to win, I'm okay with the Kings winning. Congratulations, and enjoy the victory. Unfortunately it'll be gone much too quickly.

Wow...wasn't expecting this many comments. Usually the only person that reads my blog is my husband. :) Rest assured, I love Christian, and have seen every episode of "Leverage". I plan to put "Just Married" on the TiVo just so I can see his performance. I stick by my review of "Her Minor Thing". Christian was spectacular, especially at the very end, but the back story of the cruise tickets was a little hackneyed. Interesting story about how "Fast Car" ended up on the CD, and I'm glad you posted. That said, I still don't like that song, even the original, and don't really plan to listen to it in the future. I do hope to see him in concert some day - Seattle is obviously not too far from Portland where they shoot a lot of Leverage. Thank you to everyone for your input!

That was the sweetest clip I've seen in a very long time. Thank you so much for sharing. Hope you, Anne and the boys have a very Merry Christmas.

Not only am I a longtime reader who has read this post several times, I thought about you and this story yesterday as I watched my friends' kids light their fireworks in the street, including the dreaded groundflowers. :)

If you don't want to get a Keurig might I suggest Starbucks' Via ready brew? I don't drink coffee but my husband swears by it. He keeps a few packets in his travel bag so he can have good coffee on the road, since you just need hot water.

I like the tips for non-runners. :)

Ummm...maybe. :)

Okay that was weird...

"Mary's Prayer". :)

Such a surreal moment...

Another memory from those early mix-tapes you made for me. :)

Ummmm....yeah....

Tell me about it. :)

I must say I'm a little stunned by the fact that they're both blond - when I pictured them in my head they had brown hair. (*shrug*) Oh well, great family picture!

This reminds me of the story I heard once about a woman who couldn't get into her car because the batteries on her remote had died. She ended up calling 911 (IIRC, it may have been AAA) for help getting into her car. When the guy arrived he took the key from her, physically put it into the lock and turned. This is why I still drive a car without a remote - I don't want to lose that portion of my brain.

Just wanted to add my two cents on this picture - it is a lovely family portrait. That being said, I always pictured Nolan and Ryan as having brown hair, so seeing blond hair on them is really a shock. Great job raising them, Wil...

Can't wait for the new episode of Leverage! Love the interaction between you and Hardison.

The girl in the green dress is somebody, just can't come up with her name.

You know I had to check out a song that features Bill Macy. Yeah, I called him "Bill." We're tight like that. :) That was *awesome*.

I hadn't seen it either, and I had to watch it twice to see the goat. Not surprisingly I liked watching the golden bound toward the camera and then jumping over it. :)

Workin' on it!

Funny!

Go Dawgs! Woof!

That is seriously cool.