Just When I Think I’m Out, They Pull Me Back In

After my last post, I decided that I was going to leave the pumpkin thing alone for this year. The CBS story ran, my friends and family got a kick out of it. But the topic? Yes I was done with it. I’d milked it for all it is worth until next pumpkin season.

I even had something written to put here this morning. But because of what I’m telling you about, I’m rescheduling my post entitled Thomas, The Resentful Tank Engine until Monday.

Yeah, I Made The Daily Show. Bam.

(image via takk CCby SA3.0)

So today, I was going about my morning routine. In the midst of it, I took a moment and peeked at Facebook. In that random way that Facebook does, the first thing on my news feed was a message to my now twenty-three year old son from his middle school band director.

“I just saw your Dad on The Daily Show!”

My first thought was that she’d just seen the CBS This Morning interview. But then I considered the source. This is an educated, bright woman who I admire. Certainly she knows the difference between CBS This Morning and The Daily Show. And not surprisingly, she does.

There I was, cut in to a really funny swipe at the pumpkin thing on The Daily Show! I’ll pause and wait while you click here to go over to the Comedy Central site and see the story.

So, yeah, that happened and I never saw it coming…but I love it!

Six Degrees

The way I found out about this Daily Show thing, second-hand, through my son’s middle school band director got me to thinking. The people who read my blog knew the original CBS story was running and I tried to let my friends and family know as well. But none of us knew The Daily Show was coming.

There are other people out there, people I met at a party two years ago and haven’t seen since. People who sat in lectures I gave at conferences and colleges. My old landlord. People who don’t like me anymore. Folks I used to work with. My son’s former teachers. The list of people who’ve passed through my life is pretty long. But it occurs to me that between CBS and Comedy Central, many of those people have had a “hey, I know that guy” moment this week.

There has been this unexpected game of “6 Degrees Of Separation” occurring in homes all over the country. I’ve popped on screens and people have said “wait, I know that guy”.

That phrase would, of course, be followed with how they knew me:

• “we went to high school together”
• “I fused the vertebra in his neck”
• “he dated my sister”
• “I taught his son, he wore a Hawaiian shirt to parent-teacher conference”.

And then, naturally, some supplemental thoughts (in no particular order):

• “I spilled wine on his shirt one time. I felt bad, he was nice about it”
• “We saw the Ramones together three times!”
• “I heard he was dead, guess not, huh?”
• “I hate that guy”

So to all those people who played a round of 6 degrees of separation from me (yes, I know they’ll never see this but work with me)…yeah, that was me.

No, I haven’t really devoted my life to this pumpkin thing, nor am I dead. In fact, I’m better than ever. I’m sorry about your sister. I remember you from high school too. My son is doing just fine; he’s finished college and is working in his field. Yeah, I miss the Ramones too. The wine came right out of the shirt, seriously, don’t sweat it.

And for those of you who do read this site, thanks! This is my last bit about pumpkin for a while. I thought the last one was my last bit about pumpkin for a while, but…

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