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Julie's All-Time Favorite Late-Note Thoughts 2001
Quote of the day: Baby
Gregory has grown out of his newborn clothes so I packed them away
in a box. This morning, 6-year-old Bradley was taking clothes out
of the box and crying softly. When I asked what he was crying about,
he said sweetly, (as he held up a much worn sleeper), "I miss
Gregory in this size."
January 7, 2001 Quote of the day: I was enchanted by the eloquence of a colleague who welcomed me back from maternity leave by saying: "Squirt out any new pups lately?" May 10, 2001 Quote of the day: A woman came running up behind me literally screaming, "Excuse me! EXCUSE ME! Whose shoes are those? Whose SHOES are those?" I stared blankly at the stranger staring at my shoes, and thought: they're MY shoes, naturally, since they're on MY feet. "Whose shoes are THOSE?" she repeated, pointing. Again, I stared blankly.Finally she explained, "I mean, who MAKES them. I HAVE to have a pair."." May 12, 2001 Quote of the day: Sitting at the kitchen table cutting out hundreds of little pieces of paper for a project in Bradley's kindergarten class, I complained that I was getting a blister on my finger. Bradley, who is wise beyond his 6-year-old exterior, said: "Why don't you learn to keep your mouth shut and quit volunteering for all this stuff?" May 18, 2001 Thought for the day: When confronted with an emergency situation, I knew I had to dial 911. I stood at the phone poised to dail the number. "Dial 911!" I screamed to myself." But I just stood there. I had the presence of mind enough to know to dail 911, but I couldn't remember the NUMBER. May 22, 2001 Quote of the day: I think I was complaining that I had too much to do and not enough time to do it in when Bradley said, "You know, mom, life is not just a bowl of cherries." May 23, 2001
Quote of the day: McDonald's advertises it's "Dollar Menu" on the radio: "Fries, a dollar! A hamburger, a dollar! A drink, a dollar! EVERYTHING on Mickie D's Dollar Menu is a dollar!" But if you can hear the fast-talking guy at the end, you will learn that "prices may vary." May 31, 2001 Quote of the day: Bradley says he knows why people ride bicycles in the street. "They're all pretending they're on motorcycles." I guess when you're six, you pretty much figure everybody thinks the same way you do. June 2, 2001
Quote of the day: Bradley is somewhat traumatized by all the bumblebees that hang around our yard. Today he decided he wasn't going to take it anymore. He got out a shovel and followed one big one around until he landed on the ground. After seizing his opportunity to smush the daylights out of him, he said, "Get a grave, bee." June 7, 2001 Quote of the day: Bradley lost his first baby tooth a few weeks ago. The tooth fairy left him a receipt under his pillow that said she had filed the tooth "behind that pink cloud that sometimes floats near rainbows," and that Bradley should wave to his tooth if he saw a pink cloud near a rainbow. Bradley never mentioned the receipt, and seemed uninterested. Weeks later, out of the blue, he mused: "I can't WAIT until I see a pink cloud near a rainbow. I want to wave to my tooth." June 12, 2001 Quote of the day: This is embarrassing to admit, but I tend to sing a lot, about everything, when I'm at home. This habit has carried over to Bradley and now HE sings a lot, too, about everything. Today we were singing about the laundry (or something) and Bradley said, "Mom, we're like a Broadway show, you and me." (And then he put those words to music, of course.) June 15, 2001
Quote of the day: Bradley had something (a woodchip, perhaps) stuck in his shoe. He put the shoe on, took it off, reached inside, put it on, took it off, reached inside, put it on again. He repeated this process for a good five minutes until FINALLY, he put it on and said, "Ahhhh, peace at last." June 16, 2001 Quote of the day: Bradley has grand plans for the future: "When I grow up, I'm going to build a city. I'm going to name my city 'Hugacity' and instead of shaking hands to say hello, people will hug each other. And it will be the greatest city in the world." June 21, 2001 Quote of the day: 6-year-old Bradley and I were talking about careers. ME: You should combine your extreme interest in police work with your extreme interest in diving. You could become a police diver. BRADLEY: Yeah! That's a great idea, mom. I would find all the bad fish. June 26, 2001 Quote of the day: A mother was waiting at the gate with her five cranky children for her flight to take off from Newark Airport. My friend, Leigh, was waiting nearby when a man approached the woman and said, "Excuse me, ma'am, I've been appointed spokesman for those other passengers over there (pointing all around). We're prepared to offer you $786.93 to take a later flight." July 3, 2001
Quote of the day: We were having a yard sale so I put a huge box in Bradley's room and told him to go through his old toys. The next day, I checked to see what he had put in. There, standing up on the bottom of the box, right in the middle, was one tiny action figure man, no bigger than a paperclip. I said, "Is this IT? This is all you're selling in the yard sale?" He ran over to the box, grabbed the little man and said, "No WAY, mom, I'm not selling him! He was guarding the box to make sure YOU didn't put anything in it!" July 5, 2001 Quote of the day: Bradley and
I were taking baby Gregory to the pool, so I put my bathing
suit on for the first time since last summer. "Whoa,"
Bradley said looking at my midsection, "You still look
p...." Knowing what he was about to say, I stopped him
mid-sentence. "Bradley," I scolded, "NEVER tell
a woman with a new baby she still looks pregnant. NEVER say
that, no matter what." To which he remarked, " I was
going to say, "You still look PRETTY!'" July 6, 2001 Quote of the day: Bradley plans to marry 6-year-old Quinn and be the chief of police in our small town. When Quinn learned of Bradley's plans, she said, "Hmm, chief of police, not bad!" July 16, 2001 Quote of the day: I think Bradley has watched Charlie Brown too many times. Today he was looking pensively at a tree so I asked him what he was doing. He responded: "Didn't you know that you can tell how old a tree is by counting its leaves?" (He was convinced that the little sapling was over a hundred years old.) July 17, 2001
Quote of the day: This was the first time 10-year-old Jake visited his grandmother's sister. Jake needed to call his dad so Aunt Clara showed Jake to the one phone in the house -- an old black rotary. A few minutes later, Jake joined the ladies in the parlor. "I keep pushing the buttons,"he said, "but nothing happens." July 23, 2001 Quote of the day: My "Moms" group is having a "Moms night out" tonight and I was telling Bradley about how cool it's going to be to go out with my friends just this once. With tears in his eyes, he said, "Mom, I wanna go, too. I get lonely when you're not home. Please can I come with you to the coffeehouse? Please?" After a slight pause, he added, "Do you think they have ice cream there?" (I said no, probably not.) "Ok, then, have a good time, cuz I'm not going if they don't have ice cream." July 25, 2001 Quote of the day: Bradley is starting to get annoyed with baby Gregory (the Crawligator) getting into his things. Bradley hollered, "MOM! Would you please tell Gregory to stop eating my shoes!" (Eew.) July 27, 2001 Quote of the day: I was sitting next to Bradley at dinner when he said, "Hey Dad, did you know that back when Mom lived, they only had three channels?" August 6, 2001 Quote of the day: Bradley was looking at baby pictures of himself when he noticed one in the pile was a black-and-white: "Did I live back when there wasn't color film? You know," he said, "Like back in the old-passion days?" August 6, 2001 Quote of the day: Bradley came running into the computer room, "Mom! MOM! I was just watching Animal Planet and there was this commercial and GUESS WHAT?! We could order a HORSE on the INTERNET! Can we get one, mommy, can we PLEASE? Here's the web address . . ." August 7, 2001 Quote of the day: Bradley will be the ring bearer in his big sister's wedding later this month. He's SO excited about wearing a tux and sharing in Lauren's big day. "You'll probably have to dance with Lauren at the reception," I told him. "The bride always has at least one dance with the ring bearer." Bradley didn't budge for a good solid minute (hard to imagine, I know) and then finally, "Uh, mom?" he said quietly, "Can we just not go to the wedding?" August 8, 2001
Thought for the day: The day will come (probably when Bradley is a teenager) when remembering the following quote from the adorable 6-year-old will make my day: "Mom, you are like an angel -- so sweet. Now that I think about it, you are so pretty today and I just wanted to tell you how pretty and sweet you are." (And he didn't even ask for cookies after!) August 9, 2001 Thought for the day: You know you don't cook enough home-cooked meals if you turn on the oven to warm up a pretzel from the mall, only to find leftover pizza still in there from two days ago. August 13, 2001 Quote of the day: In response to yesterday's thought about the demise of home-cooking in my house, my friend, Joyce, assures me that I'm not alone. Joyce writes that her daughter, Ella (almost 4), was preparing dinner in her play-kitchen the other day. ELLA: Mommy, what do you want to have? Chicken, beans and corn?" JOYCE: Yummy Ella, that sounds terrific. ELLA (picking up the play phone in the kitchen): Hello? We'd like chicken, beans and corn!" August 14, 2001 Quote of the day: Bradley was the ring bearer in his sister Lauren's wedding last month. After weeks of anxiety over dancing with the bride at the reception and an hour of extreme coaxing on the big night, he reluctantly danced just long enough for the photographer to snap some pictures. The next day, he confided that dancing in front of all those people wasn't so bad after all. "I actually enjoyed dancing with Lauren. I would do that again at our next wedding." September 5, 2001
Quote of the day: Today was Bradley's first day of first grade, and his first experience ever of a full-day school program. When school was over most of the children were bounding out the door. Bradley, however, walked slowly over to me and gave me a long hug. I said, "Do you want to stay and play at the playground for a little while?" "No. I wanna go home," he said. "I'm exhausted." September 5, 2001
Quote of the day: Bradley's first
grade class was given the following homework assignment: Attached
to a small brown paper bag was a note that said, "Put things
in the bag that describe who you are." Tomorrow he will
have to stand in front of his class and present his bag's contents.
He practiced his presentation for me today: 1. A police car,
"because I like police stuff." 2. An army helicopter,
"because I like army stuff." 3. A rescue helicopter,
"because I think it's important to rescue people."
4. A toy from the movie Atlantis, The Lost Empire, "because
I loved that movie so much that I'm dying to see it again."
5. A toy squid, "because undersea creatures are fun to
learn about." 6. A picture of baby Gregory, "because
he's a really great little brother." 7. A Bible, "because
I am a worshipper of God and a follower of Jesus." September 10, 2001 Quote of the day: When I explained
to 6-year-old Bradley about the World Trade Center September 11, 2001 Thoughts of the Day: When I drove
in to work tonight, it was an ominous sight. From midtown to
uptown, everything looked pretty normal -- beautiful skyline
at just past dusk with twinkling lights in the high rise buildings
-- the usual stunning skyline, and then . . . the stark fluorescent
plumes of smoke amidst buildings with no lights in the windows.
And a lady on the radio saying the puffs of smoke rising to
the sky are the souls of the dead rising to heaven. And the
towers are gone. Gone. And I start to cry. Oh my God, all those
people. My heart is overflowing with grief. Those towers were
at least twice as tall as any other building in downtown. It
looks like some other place. It looks dead. It looks like an
animal looks when it has just died in winter and steam is still
rising from its body. I have worked here for ten years, starting with the Gulf War. I've covered some pretty bad stuff. Plotted dead bodies on charts, diagrammed where bullet holes were in people's chests, seen all the pictures they edit out because they are unfit to print. I was there just after the bombing of the Trade Center in '93. A year later, I stood at what was called "ground zero" -- the exact spot where the bomb exploded -- for a followup story on all the security improvements they had made in that year. All I could think about was the six people who died. But I didn't cry. I was a journalist. You don't cry. (At least not until you're on your way home.) I had read a lot of stuff in the
news, and seen a lot of things on TV that I wish to forget,
but it wasn't really real until I was here, in it. It's everywhere.
You can smell it. You can taste it in the back of your throat.
Literally. Everywhere you look, people are crying. Working in
the newsroom of the New York Times, you can't escape it because
that's all we do: cover the disaster. Report the news. People
are grateful for the information, they truly are. But being
here, with the reality of bomb threats and evacuations looming
and people crying and the creepy smell and not being able to
even think about something else for a second. It's the hardest
thing I've ever had to do. And I've had to do some pretty hard
things. I thank you, oh Lord, for the
blessing Amen September 14, 2001 Quote of the day: Yesterday Bradley
said he was tired of seeing American flags everywhere. "I
don't get it," he said. "Why does EVERYBODY have flags
out? I'm tired of seeing them. I wish they would put them away.
It reminds me of those awful planes." So I explained to
him that for me, the American flag represents freedom. When
I see the flag, I feel proud to be an American and blessed that
I live in a country where I can walk out my front door and go
anywhere I want and there's a pretty safe bet that the store
down the street will have my favorite brand of toothpaste, "and
probably so many brands of toothpaste," I explained, "that
you could spend an hour just choosing one. In many countries
you can't even buy toothpaste. We are blessed to have so many
choices in America." And then I posed this question to
Bradley: "I want you to think about what the American flag
means to you, ok?" September 17, 2001 Thought for the day: I've realized
that it's going to take me a long time to process the events
of this last week. Like many people, I cry very easily and
I'm oh-so-tired. I was walking with Bradley today and we were
reminiscing about the last time we went to the Observation
Deck. Just me and him. We spent hours up there gazing out
the windows at the city, the sky, the Statue of Liberty, the
boats, the river, the itty bitty taxis, the ant-sized people,
and the planes that seemed close enough to touch. It was one
of those magical mother-son days. Bradley remembered it too
and pointed out that it was scary to be up so high but he
loved watching the sun set over New Jersey with me. We sat
on a bench with our knees pressed up against the window, my
arm around him, and his head nestled in my shoulder as we
waited patiently for the orange ball to disappear under the
horizon. I'm touched that he, too, remembers that day as being
special. Then he said softly, "Wow. That place must be
a ghost town now. I'll bet there's nobody there." "Bradley,"
I whispered, "The building fell down. It's lying in tiny
little pieces on the street now. That room we were in is GONE."
"It IS?" he asked. "Oh NO! That nice lady that
we bought a soda from, where IS she?" And I realize that
it's going to take a long time for Bradley to process it too. September 18, 2001 Quote of the day: I promised myself last night that I wouldn't send out another tear-jerker today, and as if on cue, Bradley provided me with a quote that might actually make some of you laugh, especially if you know me really well. "Mom," he asked, "Why do people call you 'Jules?'" "My friends call me that," I said. "It's my nickname." "Well," he said, "I think your nickname should be 'Bossy Momma.' " September 19, 2001 Quote of the day: I don't understand why the President always starts his speeches at 9 p.m. Doesn't he know we're on deadline? Well, pretty much everybody in the newsroom was watching anyway, including me. Then my phone rang. Oh, who would be calling me NOW? But the caller must have known my dilemma. He began by saying, "Thanks for taking my call." September 20, 2001 Quote of the day: During a flag-waving assembly at Bradley's school, the principal said something to the effect of, "the bad guys won't win if you go about your normal business. Play in your soccer game. Go out and have an ice cream cone." When one child came home from school, she said, "Come on, Mom, we have to go out for ice cream so the bad guys won't win. Come on! We have to go NOW." September 21, 2001 Quote of the day: I'm feeling the need to raid my old journal for happy quotes. So, here's one from when we visited the Washington Monument back in August. Bradley wondered why the structure is called a monument. "It should be called a 'cloud poker,'" he said. "It pokes the clouds and keeps them from falling down, right?" September 24, 2001 Quote of the day: Still feeling the need to raid my old journal for happy quotes . . . so, here's another one from our vacation in August. Bradley and I had just boarded the log ride at an amusement park when he said, "I changed my mind. I want to get off now." September 25, 2001
Busch Gardens, August, 2001
Quote of the day: Stopped at a red light on 36th Street, I was suddenly afflicted with a sneezing attack -- sneezed five times in a row. The taxi driver idling next to me began tapping his horn. I glanced over and saw him motioning anxiously for me to roll down my window. A little embarrassed because of the sneezing, I was reluctant, and plus, well, you just don't put your windows down in New York City for no good reason, and New York City taxi drivers are not exactly known for being nice, so I pretended I didn't see him. He persisted with the horn and the motioning got more anxious and so finally, I rolled down my window and sneezed once more. As the light changed and the taxi sped away, I heard him yelling, "GOD BLESS YOU!" September 27, 2001 Thought for the day: For the last two weeks, driving in to work has been a bit surreal. Each evening as I turn a particular corner, I find myself almost in a dream state -- hoping and praying that I'll awake from the nightmare and upon seeing the New York City skyline, standing there tall as ever will be the twin towers, intact and thriving. But each evening, when I turn that corner, I feel my spirit literally fall, as the grotesque reality of the gaping hole seeps into my mind and I sadly say, outloud to myself, "They're not there. Oh my God, they're not there." Tonight, however, things went a little differently. It was a beautiful evening, just after a rain, and the sun was adding congruent orange sparkles to the dawning city lights. As I turned that corner, the New York City skyline remained altered, but this time, surrounding the peninsula where the towers once stood was a rainbow. It was so beautiful, in contrast to the horrible images of late, that I felt a sense of pure joy! Seconds later, I noticed a red light flashing at me from my dashboard. The weight-sensitive "passenger" light was indicating that the passenger's seatbelt was not fastened. Of course, no passenger was there to trigger the light, which was peculiar, and just then a woman on the radio was talking about how she has been coping with the new tenor of fear and dismay here. She quoted from the book of Joshua: "Be strong and of good courage; be not frightened, neither be dismayed; for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." As the rainbow dissipated, so did the passenger light. September 29, 2001 Quote of the day: 6-year-old Bradley built an impressive wood-block version of the White House and left it on the coffee table. 1-year-old Gregory came along and, not being able to resist, knocked it down. When Bradley saw the devastated White House all over the living room floor, he shouted, "Gregory! Look what you did to my White House! What are you, some kind of terrorist?" October 1, 2001
Quote of the day: In the middle of reports of stolen hubcaps, disorderly conduct, underage drinking and a driver speeding off without paying for $8.25 worth of gas, my local newspaper's police log included this simple, and grim, statement today: "Police are investigating a missing person case involving Cynthia Connolly, 40, of Metuchen, who was last seen in the World Trade Center on September 11." October 5, 2001
Quote of the day: I have a
mundane task due that has been on the back burner since
September 11th, because, well, there's NEWS to report. But now,
people are hounding me night and day to get that task done.
Once the news deadline passed tonight and I had a minute
to get started, I decided to take a break and eat a fortune
cookie. The first one said, "Start writing. Your deadline
has passed." So I decided to take a longer break and
eat another one, which said, "Don't wait too long." October 12, 2001 Quote of the day: Most of
you probably heard about the Anthrax scare at The Times
today. When I came in to work, a security guard greeted
me in the usual way: "Have a nice night." Then
he added, "Just don't breathe." October 14, 2001
Quote of the day: There is
a point in our church services every Sunday at which people
greet one another by standing and shaking hands with those
standing around them. Word must have gotten out about the
anthrax scare at The Times because nobody would shake my
hand. Instead, they whispered, "Have you been tested
yet?" October 15, 2001 Quote of the day: Bradley
and I were discussing our family tree when he said, "Mom,
do you think I'll ever be a great great grandmother?"
"No," I said, "not possible." "Why
not? You're always saying I can be whatever I want to be." October 16, 2001 Quote of the day: Bradley
was having his after-school snack when 1-year-old Gregory
started following him around the kitchen, and the dining
room, and the living room. "Gregory, you're like a
flock of birds," he said, "flying around cuz you
know I'll give you food." October 17, 2001 Quote of the day: I was walking
Bradley home from school today when a low-flying jet banked
really hard to the left right over our heads. Two months
ago, I would've just thought it was heading for the airport
not far away, but this time, I couldn't help wondering if
it had been hijacked. I was pretty sure Bradley wouldn't
really think much of it though, other than how cool it was
to see a jet up so close -- so close, in fact, that you
could read the logo on the tail. "Whoa!" he shouted
as the plane roared over us. And then, with a sigh of relief,
he said, "Whew. Look Mom, that's a cargo plane. Nobody
would hijack a cargo plane." October 18, 2001 Quote of the day: As I was leaving for work Friday night, Bradley demonstrated a keen understanding of exactly how tired I am by the end of the week when he said, "Bye! Sleep well and have nice dreams at your desk!" October 19, 2001 Quote of the day: Gregory was standing in the bathroom when he babbled: "Bweeka ba gee blah mmmma? Hmm, dah?" What follows is a VERY loose translation: "Do I have to eat lunch now, mama? Can't I play in the toilet for a while?" October 23, 2001 Quote of the day: Bradley will be turning 7 on October 31st, a birthday he considers the best since it's also Halloween. (Free candy, costumes at school and presents, too! Who could ask for more?) He was miffed today to learn that he isn't the only person in the world with that birthday, though. "No!" he demanded, "That can't be! Tell the king to change everyone else's so I'm the only one!" "The King?" I asked, "Who's the king?" "George Bush." "What makes you think George Bush has the authority to change people's birthdays?" Bradley explained, "He has his own plane, his own police force, and he gets to tell the Generals when to bomb people. I think that makes him king." October 24, 2001 Quote of the day: Gregory was roaring and tottering around the kitchen like Frankenstein's monster (stiff-legged, arms extended) when Bradley said, "Gregory's really a monster that pretends he's a child. I really think so, you know. He's definitely a monster, for real. Nope, he's not a baby. He's some kind of monster." October 25, 2001 Quote of the day: Bradley was downstairs. I needed him to join 1-year-old Gregory and me upstairs, so I was calling him. Gregory called him too: "BAH-EEE! ... BAH-EEE!" October 30, 2001 Thought for the day: If you were tired of seeing the phrase "6-year-old Bradley" in this space, rejoice! He is now officially "7-year-old Bradley!" He had so much fun on his Halloween birthday that he said he thinks everyone should have TWO birthdays every year. Sounds good to me, as long as that doesn't make me twice as old. November 1, 2001 Quote of the day: When
Bradley came home from 1st grade today, I asked him
if he had any homework. He said, "Nope. Not a thing."
As a dutiful mom, I checked anyway. Due Monday: A report
on native American dwellings ("parental involvement
necessary," the assignment says), complete with
a labeled 3-D model of something other than a stereotypical
teepee. "Bradley," I said, "What do you
MEAN you don't have homework? You have this huge project
to do." "No, mom," he replied, "YOU
have a huge project to do." November 7, 2001 Quote of the day: Regarding last night's quote about parental involvement in homework assignments, my friend writes: "I don't know about you, but I already graduated first grade." November 8, 2001
Quote of the day: One of Bradley's daily chores is to empty all the laundry hampers into one big basket. Once the basket is full, I take it down to the basement. Today, Bradley said he was going to take the basket down for me. "Ok," I said, "but put your shoes on first." In just about the whiniest voice you ever heard, he said, "Aw mom, I want to show you how responsible I am NOW." November 9, 2001
Quote of the day: Bradley announced, "I learned two new talents today: how to read and how to tie my shoes." (Wouldn't it be great if you could remember the very day you learned to read and tie your shoes?) November 13 , 2001
Quote of the day: Gregory was flailing his arms about and babbling endlessly when Bradley said, "I think Gregory is a wild animal. I mean, wild animals don't talk and Gregory doesn't talk. So he must be a wild animal." (When Gregory DOES learn to talk, I hope he gives Bradley a piece of his mind once or twice!) November 19, 2001
Quote of the day: There was a little discussion after school today between me and Bradley's teacher, Ms. Kindler. I won't tell you what the discussion was about, but I will divulge Bradley's directive to ME: "And Mom?" "What, Bradley?" "Not a WORD to your little PARENT friends about what Ms. Kindler said to you, got it?" Who me? Nooooooooooo. Would I do that? November 20, 2001 Quote of the day: Bradley was giving baby Gregory little pieces of crackers when suddenly there wasn't any more. Gregory started screaming! But Bradley reassured him: "That's the way life goes, Gregory, just when you get a taste for some crackers, they're all gone." November 23, 2001
Quote of the day: When Bradley came home from school today, he marched into the kitchen and demanded, "Give me snacks now!" "Excuse me?" I said, "Wanna try that again?" "REWIND!" he shouted, as he walked backwards into the room from which he came making a "zip zip zip" noise. Then he walked calmly into the kitchen, knelt on one knee, and with clasped hands reaching to the sky announced with clear diction and impressive intonation: "Mom, may I please have a snack at your earliest convenience?" November 26, 2001 Quote of the day: The phone rang. 1-year-old Gregory shouted, "Hello!" November 28, 2001
Quote of the day: 7-year-old Bradley: "I think it's so pretty when a bird flies in front of the sun at sunset." November 30, 2001 Quote of the day: An announcement in my local newspaper: "48th Annual Winter Festival Parade . . . Sunday, December 9th beginning at 2 p.m. Theme: Let It Snow. Weather permitting." December 5, 2001
Quote of the day: My New York Times deliveryman has trouble remembering to deliver my paper to my doorstep. Despite my complaints, he usually delivers it next to the sidewalk, where NYC commuters pass by on their way to the train and apparently figure they get their news free, courtesy of moi. I received one of those Christmas cards from this guy -- you know, one of those "give me money or I'll deliver your paper next to the sidewalk forEVER" kind of cards -- and I'm not quite sure what to do with it, except to share the near certainty that this guy is unlikely to be promoted to copy editor any time soon. The card included a self-addressed return envelope and read: "My best wishs on thes holidays From your . New York . time tarrier." December 10, 2001 Quote of the day: Regarding my New York Times extortionist, er, uh, deliveryman, who delivers MY paper to commuters on the sidewalk, my friend says I should send him a Christmas card and write on the bottom: "Merry Christmas! I left a very special envelope with your gift inside by the sidewalk in front of my house. I hope you bought something really nice for your family! Next year, be sure to look for your envelope up on the doorstep!" December 11, 2001 Quote of the day: My colleague, frustrated with the inability to find a menu for a nearby restaurant by simply typing command-F mused, "I wish I was a Macintosh." (I mean, think about it: you could find anything. You could undo anything. You could perfectly align anything. You could zoom in or zoom out. You could activate your screen saver and take a nap. And whenever you really needed help, you could just turn on "balloon help.") December 12, 2001 Quote of the day: Seems a lot of you have contemplated how convenient it might be to BE a Macintosh. Pat writes: "You could do boring tasks 'in the background' and use most of your brain on more interesting things. You'd learn new stuff all the time and remember perfectly anything stored in your memory. You could double your brain power simply by plugging in new chips. You'd be immune to nearly all viruses. You'd know that you were smarter, friendlier and better looking than 96 percent of your peers and that you keep getting better with time. (And there's a good chance somebody bright and creative would be caressing your mouse all day...)" December 14, 2001 Quote of the day: I tried on some new jeans that had a very slight flare at the bottom. Since 7-year-old Bradley was with me at the mall, I asked him what he thought. "You can't get those," he said. "Those are cool girl pants." "Why can't I wear 'cool girl' pants?" I asked. "You're not a cool girl," he explained. "You're my mom." December 21, 2001
Gregory and Bradley, Christmas 2001
Quote of the day: Somehow, my family got started talking about the circle of life at the dinner table tonight. Mike and I made the point to Bradley that if all goes well, we will die before he does, because, well, we are older than he is. "But," I told him, "You don't need to worry now because we aren't likely to die anytime soon." "Oh, I don't know," he said matter-of-factly, "You guys are already pretty old." December 27, 2001
Thought for the day: Bradley got a fish tank (with a built-in periscope!) for Christmas. Today he and his dad went out and bought two guppies for the tank. Bradley named them Harry and Hermione and the tank is guarded by an owl figure named Hedwig. Anybody between the ages of 5 and 12 knows why. December 27, 2001 Quote of the day: I was out running errands with Bradley and 1-year-old Gregory, who were riding in the back seat together. Gregory would point at something and make some babbling noises and then Bradley would point and copy him exactly. I told Bradley that he should point to something and tell Gregory the REAL word for it. Bradley explained that that would be rude. "Why?" I asked. "Because Gregory is teaching me," he said. "He's my 'babytalk' teacher. Did you know the babytalk word for 'tree' is 'shubudabadeebee'? I'll be an expert at babytalk before you know it!" December 28, 2001 Quote of the day: 7-year-old
Bradley came to work with me tonight so that we could
walk out the front door at 2 minutes to midnight to
watch the ball drop. He was so excited all day, at the
idea of coming to work with me and getting to stay up
past midnight, that he was jumping out of his skin.
At one point during the day, I asked him which part
was most exciting: being in Times Square on New Year's
Eve, or getting to watch the ball drop. "No way!"
he said, "The most exciting thing is getting to
eat in the cafeteria at The Times. The food's going
to be free and I love to eat!" December 31, 2001
Quote of the day: As you read in yesterday's quote, Bradley was with me (and one or two other people) in Times Square to ring in the new year. The train back to Jersey was uncharacteristically packed on the way home, mostly with foul-mouth drunk 20-somethings. Despite his extreme tiredness at 2 a.m., Bradley still managed to provide me with a priceless quote: "Mom, if growing up means I'm gonna act like them, I don't want to grow up." January 1, 2002
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