[Boomer]

Dillywho, I, too, love Erma Bombeck's writing.

Erma Bombeck was a fellow Buckeye and I once had the privilege of hearing her speak. I lived in Dayton soon after she had made her transition from the little local community paper to the Dayton paper.

She started out writing for $3.00 a column for the little community paper. (She lived in Centerville, a Dayton suburb. Phil Donahue lived there, too. How weird is that? -- I digress.) Anyway, she said that one of her first columns there had to do with her husband's idea of Christmas lights being to change the porch light's bulb to a colored one. I guess she went on a bit about his lack of Christmas decorating spirit and tendency toward being cheap.

When her husband saw her column she said that he asked her how she could exploit his foibles in the newspaper.

To which Erma answered, "But they gave me $3.00."

And her husband said, "Go for it."

Another of her titles that can sum up how motherhood can feel sometimes is "I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression."

What a wonderful wit she was. She would have been 82 now.

I lifted these quotes from Wikipedia, even though I know that Wikipedia is not really a true reference source where the info is checked. But I'm sure all of these are Erma's. I thought you girls might like them:

"Insanity is hereditary. You can catch it from your kids."

"My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first one being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint."

"There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child."

"If a man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead."

"The only reason I would take up jogging is so I could hear heavy breathing again."

"Laughter rises out of tragedy, when you need it the most, and rewards you for your courage."

"Dreams have only one owner at a time. That's why dreamers are lonely."

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me."

"In general, my children refused to eat anything that hadn't danced on TV."

"When humor goes, there goes civilization."

"Seize the moment. Think of all those women on the 'Titanic' who waved off the dessert cart."

"Never loan your car to anyone to whom you've given birth."

"The grass is always greener over the septic tank."

"A child needs your love most when he deserves it least."

"There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt."


....... (and now I think I will go peruse the bookshelf and see if I can find one of my old Erma Bombeck books. Thanks for the memories, Dillywho.)

Boomer