John Hanley’s Summer 2010 Top Ten Cool Things
John Hanley’s Summer 2010 Top Ten Cool Things
10. Walter Patrick Hanley, Teenager
My eldest, Walter, turned thirteen on July 15. Symptoms of this change include: he is now one inch taller than I am, his voice is changing, and he has braces. While the first two should make the biggest difference in how he seems to me, in fact it’s when he smiles and shows me that big old mouth of metal that I most feel the passing of time and realize how cool it is to have such a great kid in my life.
9. “Say No To Love” – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
This super catchy tune was my song of the summer, so much so that I placed a link to the video on my website. Although I admit it’s depressing not to be as young, good-looking, and cool as the members of this band, I feel lucky to have found their music. And that is pretty cool in itself.
[Runners-up: “Epistemology” – M. Ward, “NW5” – Madness, “On My Feet” – Eels]
8. Toy Story 3
I suppose I should resent any movie so obviously crafted with the intent of making me weep, and I would, if TS3 weren’t at the same time funny, pretty, and for lack of a better word, wise. This was cool because I like a smart popcorn movie.
7. Market Day – James Sturm
I’ll be honest: incessant trolling of Facebook prevented me from reading as much as I’d like this summer. However, my hyper-attenuated attention span did not prevent me from reading a bunch of graphic novels. This dark, sad, and – exactly the right word – wise story of economic hard times stood out as the best of the lot, though it had plenty of company. This was cool because readin’ is readin’, I always say.
[Runners-up: Afrodisiac – Brian Muraca & Jim Rupp, Art in Time – Dan Nadel, Ed., In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot – Graham Reumieu]
6. New Van
We bought a shiny white Toyota Sienna this summer. This was cool for at least three reasons. One, it’s a really rocking mini-van. I know, mini-vans are inherently incapable of rocking, but if they could, this one would. Two, I got a really good deal. Toyota’s unintended acceleration epic fail = epic win for me! Three, my wife Julie really wanted this van. And nothing gives me more pleasure than seeing Julie get what she wants.
5. Mad Men
I don’t watch much television, but this show is the exception. I’m an easy cryer (see #8 above), but I was still stunned to discover how deeply I cared about these characters. From Don Draper’s pieta in reverse with his soul mate, Anna, to Peggy Olsen’s gentle hand on his shoulder in his moment of deepest loss, this show earned the waves of emotion I experienced while viewing it. If you haven’t yet, watch an episode and you’ll agree: Mad Men is the epitome of cool.
4. Summer Fun with the Boys
I could make an entire Top Ten list out of just the things I did with my three sons, Walter (13), Jack (11), and Charlie (8), this past summer. Our morning walks to Starbucks, road trips in my MINI Cooper to Interlochen with Jack and Charlie and Holland with Walter, walking down the railroad tracks and finding lots of treasures, a Batmobile sighting on Main Street, going to the Maker Faire at Greenfield Village, Calder Bros. Farm Dairy, Cabelas, and Cottage Inn Ann Arbor where our waiter insisted on calling our orange pop “FON-ta” are just a few pages from our summer scrapbook, and that doesn’t even include our experiments with Mentos and Diet Coke and endless choruses of “Bed Intruder Song” featuring the inimitable Antoine Dodson. This was cool because I love being a dad.
3. Taking the Train Out West
By way of celebrating Julie’s graduation from her Master’s program and as a substitute for our usual camping trip to Interlochen the last week of July, the whole Hanley family packed up and took the train out to visit Julie’s family in Colorado the second week of August. Again, I could make a whole Top Ten list of cool things just from this trip, but in the interest of brevity and because one picture equals a thousand words, I’ll point you in the direction of the photo album on my website where you will find lots of photographic evidence of exactly why this was such a cool trip.
2. The Summer of Gus
While you were checking out those photos, you could also peruse pictures of the newest member of the Hanley family, our beautiful Brittany, Argos, The Wonder Puppy. We picked up Gus on the second day of summer vacation, and I have to admit that he pretty much took over the summer. He’s a great dog, if a bit of a handful, but fully deserving of his own Facebook page. How cool is that?
1. Getting Julie Back
As noted above Julie, aka the Beloved Spousal Unit, finished her Master’s degree at the end of July. While we’re sure she’ll be pretty much the best Nurse Practitioner on the planet and are already positive she is the most talented manager at University of Michigan Medical Center, what this accomplishment means to us is even more important: we get the center of our family back. I am so lucky to have such a smart, kind, and lovely partner in life, and to be able to spend more time with her and my beautiful family is the coolest thing on this list of very cool things. I love you, honey!
#2: Argos, The Wonder Puppy