Hanging around grandkids gives us reasons (or excuses!) to enjoy doing some of the things we haven’t done since our own kids were little, or maybe since we were children ourselves. Things like: • catching fireflies; • running through a sprinkler; • letting your toes squish through mud; • swinging so high you feel like you could touch the sky; • standing in the rain and catching raindrops on your tongue; • waiting anxiously for a parade with a plastic bag to fill with candy; • making soap bubbles, trying to see who can make the biggest or the most in one slow-blow; • watching a caterpillar crawl, and not worrying about what you really “should” be doing; • squatting by a stream to catch minnows or watch a spinning bug; • reading stories at bedtime, and then being tucked in and kissed goodnight.

THIS AND THAT * One afternoon while I was playing superhero with my sweet Trent, he started getting out his Marvel action figures, which include Captain America, Black Panther, Ironman and Spiderman. We started playing and had an entire scenerio worked out about how we were going to fight off the villain Thanos, when Trent said he remembered that he had another hero who could help fight.

Well, I’ve gone and done it. I was asleep at the wheel when it happened, of course, but last week my life’s odometer flipped to another number. A bigger number. An older number. And because of that, I’ve elected to start receiving that monthly paycheck from Uncle Sam. It’s actually my money anyway—money that I’ve been tucking away in a government account, withheld from every paycheck, from every job I’ve ever had, all of my livelong, adult days. It would be more exciting if it wasn’t just one more reminder of how old I am.

Dear Editor: This month marks a third of this year with a Stockton address after fleeing my home in Johnson County when the pandemic first hit this spring. Details are in the most recent Stockton Chamber of Commerce newsletter by long-time friend Jayne Prockish, Executive Director of the Chamber, if you’re interested.

* Found out my sweet niece did the same thing that I did for the Fourth of July holiday! I didn’t have time to mow my entire lawn before that weekend, so I only mowed the front lawn to make it look presentable. My niece did the same thing! We must be related!

Imagine a world where you had to pay a royalty fee every time you sing the “Happy Birthday” song. We actually lived in that world, up until 2016. And who knew? To be clear, the copyright issue actually pertained to “public performances” of the song, not those sung around your dining room table when candles are a’blazing. Even so, the most recognized song in the English language (according to Guinness World Records) went through quite a squabble for many years, all about money.

Dear Editor: I had a collision with a deer on Highway 24, about five miles west of town, on the 9th of July, and I wanted to say “thank you” to those who stopped to check on my brother and me. Several people stopped to see if we were alright, and my brother called 911 for asswistance.

A LITTLE OF THIS AND A LITTLE OF THAT! * At the end of the day I am thankful that my blessings are bigger than my problems. * Dear Optimist, Pessimist and Realist, “While you guys were busy arguing about the glass of water, I drank it!” Sincerely, The Opportunist.

To say the Class of 2020 got gypped out of their Senior year experience is an understatement as well as an overstatement. Everyone knows it. Everyone agrees. Everyone has said it a million times. Everyone feels so bad for the graduates. Everyone went from feeling sad to being straight up mad. In my family, our senior granddaughter in Cheney, a Cardinal cheerleader, first cried her eyes out that State Basketball was halted. I imagine there were tears in Stockton, too, especially since the Tigers had just upset the No. 1 seed and were on a roll. Then came the news that schools were closed down across the state, and the tears flowed again—rivers of tears—thinking about no Prom, no track season, no graduation, no everything.

THIS AND THAT