No Regrets

We tuned in to A Prairie Home Companion this weekend and were surprised & delighted to hear Elvis Costello's voice -- he and Garrison Keillor made an odd but brilliant pair. In particular we enjoyed the scene where Keillor's Guy Noir character is talking to a prima donna singer or actor (we didn't get the full story), played by Costello. Noir has been warned by the star's gushing assistant that he can't stand the word "sorry," and when Noir, Norweigan Lutheran that he is, accidentally blurts out an apology, the Costello character explodes: "Don't say that! Don't ever say 'I'm sorry.' Instead say, 'Just get over it!' I hate hearing people apologize all the time!" And Garrison Keillor pauses and then snaps, "Just get over it."

As inveterate apologizer myself, I found this enormously cheering. Several times since, I have been about to utter a reflexive "I'm sorry," imagined myself saying "Just get over it!" instead, and stopped. It turns out that this simple mental exercise rather quickly distinguishes situations where the person in front of you actually believes you have done something that merits regret or restitution of some sort from situations where you are just feeling randomly inadequate as usual. In the former case, you can respond to the wronged party -- by begging forgiveness, or thumbing your nose, or something else entirely. On the other hand, if "Just get over it" makes absolutely no sense in this context, it's a good bet that "I'm sorry" doesn't make much either.

All of this is to say that we are way behind in our reporting of the Adventures of the Kidde Woodward Family, though the Adventures themselves have proceeded apace; that this lapse is due to a variety of circumstances, some of our own making, others beyond our control, none of which we want to relive by describing them here; and finally, that in the unlikely event that any of you are feeling at all disappointed or irate about this, we advise you to just get over it.

We have finally managed to dump the contents of the camera into the computer, and we hope to share a few stories with you soon, including:

• Josie's new electric bass!

• Simon's latest obsession: Indiana Jones!

• Ioan's musherstache!

• A rollerderby wedding!

Life being what it is, of course, we can't promise anything. But we can provide an immediate answer to the burning question begged by that last bullet point.


No, the bride did not wear rollerskates. (Josie, however, did.)