So, where DO you get your material?

My brother's car ride this weekend should be a visual delight as autumn bursts into maximum color. 'Me thinks' there is more than a leisurely visit with 'the Queen Mum' in mind. She innocently provides the material for his comedic stories, and the laughter that follows. Two of my favorite examples would be excerpts from their daily conversations. When the phone rings, the caller and number are displayed on the television. So I am able to alert her...

"That it is Paul. Pick up the phone."

I also listen as an interpreter because both of them have some hearing loss and an occasional prompt makes it more enjoyable for everyone involved.

Phone to her ear, Flo greets him with the familiar words of his greeting...

"Hello, Sweet Angel!"

[Your usual, generic greeting, wouldn't you say?'...No? I'm shocked!]

Flo listens intently and hangs on every word, but sometimes the words may be too fast or connections need to be made for Mom to follow. At the end of the long and involved story, she chirps out to him... quite sincerely,

"I don't know what you said, but it was wonderful!!"

And ends each call with,

"It's always nice to talk with you."

Last night, Paul was describing what he had made for dinner. [He got the cooking gene, I got...?]

He was embellishing on the cullinary details that lead him to fix 'kielbasa and sauerkraut' and just how delicious it turned out. Yum- mm. He really enjoyed it.

Flo nodded her head and said, " I did, too"

Totally shocked, he answered, "You did?"

"Yes, but it was last night for supper....except it was chicken!"

Well, if you could bottle and sell the resulting laughter from that response, you could put the pharmaceutical market out of business. She is like the combination of Edith Bunker, Gracie Allen, and Betty White rolled into one.

She is the inspiration behind his comedy routine, and he's coming back for more!

Because Flo taught us to share the good things, you, too, will get to share the new material.

We're on standby...