I picked The Baby up from school today for the first time since my foot surgery (November 28).  He was having a friend come home with him to work on a project.  As we were driving up the road, The Baby started telling his friend about my brother and his dogs.  I knew that this was going to be a longwinded story because all of us always feel like we have to explain why Safety is named “Safety”.  It’s because first, there was “Danger”.  Danger is no longer with us. He was the oldest and he died a year or so ago at the ripe old age of 15.  Once we get all of that out of the way, we have to tell about the new dog, “Nugget”, who is named “Nugget” because he is blonde and looked like a chicken nugget as a baby puppy.  The Baby asked me if I remembered my brother running down our street, screaming “NUGGET!!!!” at the top of his lungs.  I did not remember.  He said that it happened when Nugget got out of our backyard in December. In great, graphic detail, laughing his head off, The Baby told his friend that my brother, age 45, sprinted down our street, literally screaming “NUGGET!!!” as loud as he could. His face was as red as it could be.  Now, both boys were laughing hysterically. I even chuckled a little at the thought of this sight.  It quieted down a little, and The Baby said to his friend, “Yeah, my uncle has some anger and some emotional problems”.   I said, “Oh MY GOD! He does not!! He just got upset because the dog got out! Those dogs are like his children!”  The Baby said, “Oh”.  “DO NOT tell people that your uncle has anger and emotional problems,  because that is not true!” I said.  There was complete quiet for a minute or so.  Then, The Baby said, “Oh well. I already told my whole class that he does”.  Then there was hysterical laughing again from the backseat.

Sorry, Brother 😉