OH, SHMENGY

     I try to promote my friend’s stuff if I like it or if I haven’t tried it, but I LOVE my friends and think they got the goods, I promote it.  I love my friend Michelle O’Neil’s blog.  She writes so well.  Very simple and very often brings a tear as it shows her profound love of life and her family.  So I dig it. And I post it.   I am feeling a tad “guilty” promoting my friend Melissa’s holiday e-cards because I rarely do Christmas cards.  I don’t know why.  The ones I receive are lovely and I am grateful.    My friend Dina sends me a Christmas card every year, and teases me for not sending her one.  She almost always sends pictures of her children.  She also has a gift for picking out some great cards.  One time I got a card from her with a picture of people at a Christmas party.  They all had fruit on their head.  I opened it up and it said, “Have a Carmen Miranda Christmas!” I laughed immediately.  But then, Dina has a gift for picking out the right cards for every occasion.   Her husband has commented that I seem to like slapstick humor.  He said we were at a Gallagher Concert, (you remember him, right?) and I laughed when I saw an audience member going up an aisle and falling.  Nice.  I have no recollection of this.  They have both shared how much they hate the Three Stooges and beating each other up.  I told them that although I didn’t like the “beatings”, there were some classic “Three Stooges Bits” that I loved. So on one of my birthdays, Dina sent me a card with the Three Stooges on it that said, “Happy Birthday!”  Then when you open it, it says, “Eat. Drink. And Beat Larry.”   

     They used to have a party every summer.  I looked forward to Dina’s invitations every year.  One year, it had a dollar bill Xeroxed with their 2 year old son, Dan’s picture on it.  It said, “In Dan We Trust”.  One year in the early 90's, she sent the invite and on the front it told you when and where and what to bring.  When you opened it, there was a picture of Rush Limbaugh and she said, “And maybe you can tell us why THIS man has a bestselling book and his own radio show! 

  My brother Rick never met her.  Her last name is Shimandle and he referred to her as “Dina Shimagle”.  Later we changed it to Shmengy and it stuck.  Whenever she makes a comment on my Facebook page that strikes any emotion in me, be it anger or laughter, I respond with, "OH SHMENGY!"