It's The Small Things...

A Little Tug Time

“To a small child, the perfect granddad is unafraid of big dogs and fierce storms, but is absolutely terrified of the word ‘boo’.” - Nicholas Brault

I’m taking a very short break from politics and editorial cartooning this week because my adorable granddaughter Keira and her mom have come to stay with us for a few days while my son-in-law is away on business. They live 600 miles away in Minneapolis so it’s not very often that I get to see them and I want to take advantage of the time I have with them.

In the last few days we’ve taken Keira on strolls through the park, spent time shopping for new clothes, visited the Indianapolis Zoo and made just about every silly face and sound imaginable just to see her smile. I can assure you that it’s been a much needed break from focusing on the issues of the day.

If you caught the subtitle of this post (A Little Tug Time) and are a little confused I’ll explain. When our daughter and son-in-law first announced their pregnancy a number of our friends immediately asked what our grandparent names were going to be. I really had never given it any thought and I resigned myself to being perfectly fine with letting this first grandchild make the decision. Then one evening we were with friends and having a few drinks. The topic of nicknames came up among all the individuals in attendance and I shared that my grandmother had given me a unique nickname when I was very little. She affectionately referred to me as Timothy Tugbutton and often shortened it to just calling me Tug. Well my wife, her best friend and the bottle of Chardonnay they had killed unanimously decided that Tug would be my grandfather name. At first I thought it was a little silly, but I then I got a really warm feeling in my heart realizing that my grandmother would be responsible for what my grandchildren would call me. I also realized that the name Tug was a good combination of my children’s names- Tori and Doug. I guess it was meant to be.

My daughter and granddaughter will be flying back home on Friday and I promise that I will return to commenting on Trump, ICE, Iran, gas prices and whatever else hits the fan under this administration, but for now I’m just going to enjoy some much needed Tug time with my daughter and Keira.

If you’d like to help me in my efforts to spoil Keira with a paid subscription that would be wonderful. Her first birthday is next month and even though she can’t talk yet I just know that she would be asking for a drum set if she could.