I liked the music from "The Corpse Bride" so much I bought the company. No, actually, I bought the sheet music for "Victor's Solo." It's a beautiful, haunting (duh..) short piece, vaguely reminiscent of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" in the beginning. I played it several times through, and I realized it's not very sophisticated, but it sure is pretty.

Our orchestra director at church is in his early 30's. His knee "tricked out" on him, so we had a short conversation about age and body mechanics. I told him when I was in my 20's, my body was my best friend. It would do anything I wanted without complaining. In my 30's, we developed a "mutual understanding." I didn't try to push to hard, and it would let me get away with a few foolhardy activities. In my early 40's, this changed to more of a stand-offish relationship.

Body: "Look, I've been trying to explain. You just can't do some of those things. I'm fragile - you know, mortal."
Me: Yeah, I know, but can't we at least talk about this a little?
Body: We already covered the main points. There's not much to discuss.
Me: But we used to be so close...
Body: Topic closed. Next....

In my late 40's, after various medical procedures including back surgery...
Me: Hey, let's go running or dig up the yard, or something fun.
Body: Ha Ha Ha. Ha Ha Ha. Ahem. No.
Me: I've got to do something to burn off steam.
Body: OK - go for a walk, but make sure it's on level ground, and dress warmly.

Can't wait for the next decade...

My daughter went to sleep fairly easily tonight. She said she would try to stay in her own bed. I told her if she did, I would let her print all she wanted tomorrow for free. (She loves to print coloring pages from PBS Kids, but she has to earn "printer points" by reading.) She said "I can't do that - we'll run out of ink." I said, "honey, if you sleep in your own bed, I'll buy barrels of ink and truckloads of paper. " Then I said, "and I'll dress up like any character you choose." Whoops. She looked at me gleefully and said one dreadful word- "BARBIE!" I swallowed hard and said, "yes, if you sleep in your bed, I'll dress up like Barbie." So if you, dear reader, happen to see me in this condition, I hope you will understand. As for me, I'm really looking forward to hearing the pitter-patter of those little feet tramping into the bedroom in the wee hours. But don't tell my wife.