(heart)SCOUT

On my drive into work I pass by one of those time signs that shows how long it will take to get to a certain location. It shows the 605 and Downtown. It is almost always 35 minutes to the 605 and 65 minutes to Downtown. So this morning when I passed by and it said 14 minutes to the 605 and 35 minutes to Downtown I instantly thought that LA had closed for the day. Or that all the haters' prayers had been answered and it fell into the ocean. Well, jokes on you haters. The sign was way off.  LA is still there because it took me 14 minutes just to get over Kellogg Hill (3 miles away from the sign).

Once I finally made it off the freeway I ended up behind a car with the license plate that read "(heart)DGROHL" I'm going to make a wild assumption and say this is for Dave Grohl. Look, the Foo Fighters occasionally come out with a catchy song, there's no denying that. But this is just a little ridiculous. Those vanity plates cost money. I've never understood the need to proclaim love like that for people YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW! And who don't even know you. And your only real connection to them is that they create something that you love. There are many, many people out there whom I love for creating wonderful things. But none that I would make a vanity plate for. The nature of love is that you respect it enough to not put it on a car bumper. Besides, "(heart)LEOATNEXEUXCREAMERY" is too many letters.

Speaking of things that I love but not enough to put on a license plate but would be in the running if I didn't think such things were strictly for dummies: you've heard, no doubt, that Harper Lee is publishing another novel. And you, like I, are probably a mixed bag of emotions over this. On the one hand, To Kill a Mockingbird is about as close to a perfect book as you can get and that is going to be hard to follow, especially after 50 years of growing public admiration. But on the other hand, Scout, Jem, and Atticus will be back in our lives in new ways and I can barely contain my excitement over that. Truthfully, I'm having a hard time comprehending what it will be like. It's like someone has said, "And tomorrow night a second moon will rise." Our moon is already so lovely and perfect. And we didn't even know that another moon was out there. But it's hard to argue that a second one wouldn't be a spectacular addition to our sky. Metaphorically, of course, because in actuality a second moon would probably destroy our planet as we know it. Tidal waves and stuff.

Anyway, you're all invited over to my place in mid-July to discuss it. Please come. I'm sure I'm going to need to talk it out.