It seemed like a good idea at the time: To buy one of those daily quote calendars and plant it on our kitchen table, where my family and I could check out its hoary nuggets of wisdom every night at dinner. But then we had a much more fun idea! To add to each page our own favorite family quote (i.e. from our mouths and brains) that came out in the course of the actual day.
You see in the photo (shown here at top right) the result from Monday night, January 4, when I wasn’t home. Apparently, there was a conversation about the original decision to give my daughter, now 15, the middle name of Cole. As I remember the circumstances, my wife and I liked how it fit with the rest of her name, how it wasn’t all that common, and how it was, for us, a bit of an homage to Cole Porter and Nat King Cole. And I guess I thought that’s what we agreed on. Apparently, not. As you can see in the family quote of the day from my wife, which says:
“Well, daddy kind of filled out the birth certificate without really finalizing it with me.”
Oh.
By contrast, the official quote calendar, which goes by the name of “365 Lovely Thoughts For Each Day Of The Year,” offered this jewel of advice for the January 4 (shown here below right):
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right. You’ll be criticized anyway.” –Eleanor Roosevelt.
A worthy recommendation from a worthy source, for sure, but our little twist is much more fun, isn’t it?
We only started this on New Year’s Day, and so far the quotes have ranged from the hopeless to the adolescent.
Hopeless: “Turns out there is a difference between ‘buttermilk’ and ‘butter and milk.’”
Which I observed after I followed a pancake recipe and the pancakes turned out kind of flat.
Adolescent: “I know you had sex at least twice. But you guys are ultimates and I think you had it at least 20 times.”
From my almost 12-year-old son, of course.
At least he thinks we’re ultimates at something.
Eric Messinger is the editor of New York Family. He can be reached at [email protected]
