We needed tough lessons as children. An occasional playground fight was expected as the norm, and if we complained to our mother that we were being teased, we were treated to this glorious aphorism: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” My mom used to say that all the time, one of the seemingly endless adages she had at her disposal to deal with any of life’s problems. To this day I think long and hard about the practical application that dogma had on my life.
The idea that you could actually choose whether or not to be hurt by words: that was huge for me. Even though it has been repeated ad nauseam for generations, “sticks and stones” really is a powerful bit of philosophy to a kid. That’s one of the great things about being a parent: you can spout nothing but clichés, and yet, to your child, you come off as one of the great thinkers in Western culture.
–from MEAN DADS FOR A BETTER AMERICA, by Tom Shillue
I thought I might beat Michael to this post. Look at this video how often do you do this? I recorded all our entrances including Greg and then I went around the panel to show all the people who are on tonight- then I pressed the button to stop but I wasn’t taping (i do this a lot)
Thank you for reminding me. I wanted to talk about our post-show hangout in Memphis and here it is:
“Day 3”
of the 2026 Cavalcade.
809 miles traveled so far.
Note didn’t have enough bandwidth to post yesterday.
Today is day 4 .
from day 2;- I forgot to mention the Elk doe we saw on the right shoulder of the road eating grass.
Scared the crap out of me. All she had to do was turn and walk 5 feet, we’d be just a memory.
We left Nehalem late, the dew was so heavy that there were puddles.
The sun did finally come out and we used towels to dry the roof of the pop-up in order to fold it up.
Short ride day, 165 miles, although because we kept going through small beach towns, it took 4 hours of seat time.
We stopped at the Tillamook plant and took the self guided factory tour. We then bought some cheese.
We also had some ice cream, it was a creamery after all.
I had a strawberry malt, and my beautiful bride had a single scoop of chocolate coffee.
We are currently ensconced in Beverly Bay state park. Still in Oregon. @The_CINC took pity on me and rented a ‘yurt’ for the night.
So no set up/take ...
@tomshillue @GGsister1
Tom, I’m not sure if I have told you recently how awesome you are with all the people you interact with and all the details of your life that you remember me. I want to express to you that it makes me feel pretty special. Last night at the hotel people were approaching me saying YOU’RE NURSE PAM!! The bright blue shirt + your wonderful recognition of a fan gave me a chance to make several new friends. How oddly wonderful to be a pseudo-celebrity lol 😂 even briefly. Thanks Tom, you’re the best 🩷
