From the Cobwebs: Dougie Paul

07 Mar 07 Wednesday

Letter to Douglas Paul
Current mood: happy
I wrote this letter to my little brother just before christmas, and I found it in my notebook today while at the hospital wasting time until the van came to take me back home. It will eventually become self explanatory.

Dearest Douglas Paul,

I work in a big warehouse kind of place. My personal office is separated from the other two offices by about 150 feet of warehouse space. After clocking in at the beginning of the day, or after lunch, I must pass through my boss' big open-spaced office and the warehouse space in order to return to my own office.

Bossman's office has a large television and an old fashioned couch that looks as if someone weaved browns, blues, creams, and greens together to make the fabric which covers it. It is extremely ratty-looking, but very comfortable. I suspect he chose that couch purposely. He is in his office a H-U-G-E amount of the time and he wants it to be comfortable, ya know? So comfortable, in fact, that he even pays to have cable t.v. piped in.

It's useful, actually, to have cable on that t.v. For example, if it is stormin' out, we tend to turn the t.v. to channel 44 so we can keep our eyes on the weather. Sometimes, at the end of the day, we sit on that comfy couch and watch "Your Word" on that FOX news channel for just a few minutes before we head for home. Katie, our office manager's grand-daughter stays with us here at the office three days a week. Cindy often puts Nickolodean, or Disney or PBS on so Katie will be entertained for 30 minutes here and there.

It was during one of these half hour periods, today, that I was walking through the two main offices. I stopped short in front of the television because I heard a familiar voice! The program was Sesame Street (which, didja know, Doug, was born the same year I was?) and I heard Cookie Monster (forthwith and forward to be known as C.M.) and some blonde and braided puppet gal discussing the "letter of the day" (l.o.d.) which I'd like to note, was "Q."

Strangely enough, Blonde and Braided was disagreeing quite vehemently with C.M. as to which letter actually was the l.o.d. She continued to insist that today's l.o.d. was the letter "O." Finally, C.M. looked down at the letter he was holding, as if to give proof for his assertions. One glance down at the letter, (which looked suspiciously like a cookie with a hole in the middle) and ol' C.M. smiled. "Well" he said, "the letter of the day actually is a "Q", but I accidentally ate the stem-y thingie."

I think, perhaps, that C.M.'s puppet friend began to berate him because his consumption of the "stem-y thingie" might cause some confusion among the show's younger viewers, but I cannot be certain. My laughter drowned out her words. "That is something Dougie Paul would do" I thought to myself, "He would eat the stem-y thingie unapologetically and just smile."

A smile graced my face as I thought of you, Little Brother. The memory of Daddy telling Lana, Vicky, and me of your arrival on the day you were born; the memory of your ardent affection for Cookie Monster; the memory of the day you first walked; the memory of your fishie kisses, the memory of how you used to INSIST that you were a girl like the rest of us; the memory of Mary Beth and her melodic "Can Dougie come out and play?" and many others wandered through my mind and made me smile all afternoon.

Perhaps I don't let you know often enough, Douglas Paul, but I love you and I'm glad you are my brother.

Wishing you...

Sonshine, laughter, and lots of stem-y things to eat,

Loralee, your big sister.



Read more: http://www.myspace.com/loraleefabulous/blog?page=9#ixzz0zwbveu5q