Garfield's Wisdom

When I was growing up I thought Garfield was the funniest creation in the history of man. An overweight cat who ate nothing but lasagna, hated Mondays, pelted the goofy dog Odie and the cutesie cat Nermal, and made fun of his dorky owner Jon -- what could be funnier? I used to take the Garfield books into church and try to suppress my laughter during the sermon. Garfield was my elementary hero.

Looking back on the comic strip now the humor just doesn't stand the test of time like a Far Side or a Calvin & Hobbes. Perhaps my funny bone has matured or maybe it has just hardened. But today as I drove into work I couldn't help think of that little fat cat and his loathing for the beginning of the week.

Amy & I are sleep challenged today as Tess had us up at 3am. We think her stomach has been bothering her since we started introducing more cereal in preparation for the pureed vegetable diet she's about to embark upon. Then Gus was up this morning at 6am wanting to make cinnamon rolls. Amy & I unknowingly pawned him off on each other as we barely raised an eyelid from our respective sleeping places where we had settled from caring for Tess. Suddenly from upstairs I heard what sounded like the jingling of knives and my eyes shot wide open. From downstairs where Amy had settled with Tess she raised up out of bed hearing the same thing.

I bolted down the steps to find Gus at the kitchen counter with his array of skillets (thankfully not knives) preparing for his early morning cooking adventure. He was happily arranging all the things one would need to cook canned Pillsbury rolls -- skillets, cream cheese, Crayola markers and construction paper -- chirping and boasting about how he was going to make breakfast all by himself. What these two parents wouldn't give for his energy.

So the wife and I are putting our game faces on today for the week ahead. We will get Tess acclimated to solid foods this week so her sleep will return back to normal. She did get a great report last week at her 6-month checkup. Right now she's long & lean -- 25% in weight and 75% in height. The boys have one more week of summer freedom before school starts. And we are keeping an eye on the weather as Tropical Storm Fay may impact a potential weekend beach trip that we had in the back of our minds. On one hand we desperately need the rain; on the other, it would be nice to be able to get a little R&R for just a couple of days to send off the summer in celebratory fashion.

Maybe that little fat cat was onto something.


Cheers!