Truppa Gonfiata

My bro-in-law—and silliest friend—and I marveled at details offered by the narrator of a WWII documentary on television. In his finest British accent, he summed up an epic sortie by the Italian Air Force this way: “And when the pilots looked around, they noticed that, overnight, their ranks had swollen considerably.”

“Swollen ranks are typical,” I added, “when you sit in a cockpit for too long.” For many joyful, awful moments we jibed and punned, eyes streaming tears and stomachs tight, then painful. In that spirit, this blog will try to capture moments that evoke such emotion—stemming from the laughter, trauma, and beauty of each day on planet earth. (Don’t despair, you will also get some puns and tangential stuff as well.)