I don't know what to make of holidays that can't seem to be appended to a Sunday, but here we are, Veterans Day. I honestly did think of my dad this morning and to honor him I put on some Warner Bros. cartoons (he loved Daffy Duck). On the way to the mall to celebrate our nation's sacrifices with a 40% discount on all name brands, Jackson started grousing about what a stupid holiday it was. After a brief discussion on the origins of the word holiday ("Holy day" "You're making things up again, aren't you, Mom?"), I felt obliged to give him an overview of World War Two, which went a little like this:

1. Most of Europe was fighting the Nazis but they were getting tired
2. They asked America to help and we did!
3. America's volunteers helped to defeat the Nazis, which I mean, wow, can you imagine if we were all speaking German right now?
4. But a lot of people died fighting Hitler so this is a good day to remember that war is a giant drag and that some people made huge sacrifices to take a stand against tyranny

And then we moved on to Jackson's latest fascination: Astrology! Yay! Change subjects!

My dad was in Japan at the end of the war, and he totally transferred his fascination with Japan on to me.

Posture, Marriott! I have no idea how he laced his boots like that.

No idea. Hokkaido?

Paratrooper humor.

Meanwhile, my mom's brother Al was in the Navy, which makes sense for a landlocked boy with a sense of humor. Minnesota has a lot of lakes, you know.