Hearing My Dad Laugh

So back in the mid-90s, Julie and I sat down with Mom and Dad and chatted about their early life, from Dad's work on the railroad, on through the war years, and up to the time when my oldest brother was born. This is how I learned that Lorin was a "persnickety" kid among other things.

Our intent was to do more interviews but we pretty much wore them out with this session and never really got back to it. I am just grateful we got what we did. Fair warning: The video quality is not great. I am going to try to import it again later and get a cleaner picture but I was able to improve the audio quite a bit so you can hear the voices a lot better than in the original.

So here is 38+ minutes for you to watch when you have the time. I think you'll agree that there really is nothing better than hearing my dad tell a story and laugh at his own jokes on Father's Day. Except maybe for mom laughing at everything but his jokes. :)

Here you go.

Of This and a Lexus

Out of every family trip comes at least one phrase or moment that forever lives in infamy. We were heading to Boise this past weekend when a white Lexus sedan starts honking at the car in the left turn lane in front of it, trying to get it to proceed even when it was obvious that there was not space or time to do so safely. So, in response, Austen says, "What the heck?, white Lexus." So we instantly adopt this as our family's catch phrase. 

Feeling the need to document this gem before it was lost, I attempt to use my voice-activated smartphone. "Siri, make a note of this . . . " The phone cuts me off, and before I can say the words, "What the heck?, white Lexus," this comes up on the screen:

The universe (and its many smartphones) do indeed make fun of us all.