Calvin and Hobbes

Today's topic is a little bit of reminiscing. Two things happened that made me think of the comic. I was surfing blogs and found one I was enjoying very much and she had posted a site with a grouping of the snowmen comics with Calvin. Years ago I had seen a collection and had printed it off and made a scrapbook grouping of them. AND later I was cleaning and found a stack of Robbie's books of Calvin we had given him. Click on this link to see the snowmen in question. http://rammygram.com/index.php/2007/12/20/calvin-and-his-snowmen/

I liked Calvin as much as Robbie did but I think Robbie took joy in it more because he had never had children before marrying me to get to my 3 munchkins. He enjoyed the scrapes Calvin got into because it made our insane life look a little less abnormal. (If any of my children question that statement, here are four things to back me up. 1- the picture of a little boy who has tied his feet together and thrown the rope over a tree limb and proceeded to "hang" himself upside down. 2- The ER visit with a little girl who had pushed a pea-sized seed so far up her nostril that she almost had to have minor surgery to remove it. 3- The little girl who told her entire life history (as well as her parents' and siblings') to whoever had the misfortune of being in line with us at the grocery store (or the cashier if no one else was around.) 4- The sweet, innocent little girl who toddled over to me with her hand out and grunting cause she wanted to give me something and then released a big, hairy spider into my open palm. I have lots more examples but for now I rest my case.)

He must have been crazy to have taken on a woman with three very small children and then have another child to round everything out. I guess that's why he fit in so well. He took the responsibility of being a father very seriously and loved each of the children for their strengths and weaknesses. He didn't consider himself to be a step-father, he was ONE of their fathers. He was the father of four children, not the father to one and the step-father to three children. He took special care to make sure the youngest got her special time when the older three went to their other father's house for visits so she wouldn't feel different. He made sure the other three knew that he chose them as part of his family and that they were just as loved as his youngest child. That probably doesn't make sense to some people but to us - we were a family of two adults with four very special children. The steps in our family led upstairs.

I'm not sure why I'm thinking about Robbie now - it's not a birthday, holiday or anniversary. Not to mention that this September will be 15 years since he died. But I am thinking about him and the wonderful children he left behind. I'm sure he's very proud of how well our little "Calvins" turned out and would enjoy the gran-Calvins too.