Day 9 From Burbank: Joie De Vivre (Joy Of Living)

Definition of "joie de vivre": My sister, Tammy.

She pulled this green shiny wig out of her purse, slapped it on her head and wore it around because

"It's almost St. Patrick's day".

Joie de vivre means joy of living. I don't know anyone who does this better than my sister, Tammy. She introduced me to roller skating, rainbow sherbet and religions of the world. She helped me embrace travel, fairy tales and miracles.

She has devoted her life to helping kids.

This is a little more of her magic.

We meet Tammy for breakfast. My son knows that Aunt Tammy will be toting an endless supply of toys. She pulls out puzzles, a car that eventually goes flying across the table, a wind up bunny that poops jellybeans and a pair of plastic handcuffs. My son puts one cuff on her right hand and one cuff on his highchair. She spent the entire breakfast like that. Smiling, laughing and eating with her left hand. Spontaneous singing, dancing and joke telling is expected.

Once, while babysitting my nephews, Tammy taught them how to light their farts on fire. I know she will teach this art form to my son at some point.

My 3 year old has learned many things from his Aunt Tammy.

Among them are: Blowing a straw wrapper across the restaurant and hitting it's target, playing hide n seek, shooting water pistols, blowing bubbles and working staplers. Officially I will frown on some of these things and make a big deal about fire safety and inappropriate behavior. But unofficially I am so glad my son gets to have what I have always had.

Tammy teaching us "joie de vivre!"

Oh yeah, I did 40 flights of stairs, walked 3 miles and ate the food Shaboom ate yesterday.