A tribute to the men in my life

My dad is a man of few words. Now, he’ll bust out a scene from an old Three Stooges skit at the drop of a hat (and you wonder where I get it from?) but as far as actual conversation, he just doesn’t say much. But I have to give him cred for staying on top of the latest slang. This can be evidenced in the Valentine’s day card he sent me.

It’s kind of blurry, but notice the bottom left corner. He just says “word.” He cracks me up. I started saying “word” sometime back who the heck knows when, and my Dad has stuck with it all these years. And I must admit that I still say it a lot too – especially when I talk to him. Sometimes when he’s feeling especially talkative he’ll pull out the “word to Big bird.” Classic!

My uncle on the other hand loves to talk and write and just communicate any and all the time. He gets upset because I don’t call him or email him enough. The following was written at the bottom of the letter I received from my uncle yesterday:


In case you can’t read it, it says “By the way, I am your Uncle. Older brother of your mother. We hiked on the A.T. (Appalachian Trail). Oh yes, I used to write you every week when you were in college.

Yes, it true – he sent me a letter every week while I was in college. And at the end of my four years, he compiled them all in a book called “Letters to Anne.” Pretty great. Yet I still hardly ever email. But I know I can count on the uncle to write and the Dad to make me bust out laughing super hard with just one "word." I hoping this year to get him to start saying "fo shizzle."