Dr. Joy Browne

got to play with a brand new baby over the weekend, like less than 48 hours old. you forget what a miracle a new life is and how deer in the headlights new parents are. also, speaking of gratitude, folks seem realllllly sloppy these days about thank you notes, rsvping and other assorted mannerly behavior. and please, don't tell me an email is an ok thank you....it's not, unless what you are being grateful for is a virtual gift (ok, i also hate those ecards. email, yes; bad manners, no)

yo cherubs: I know for alot of folks the explosion near grand central brought up some old anxieties about terrorism, mortality, vulnerability, etc. May I humbly offer a suggestion? When in doubt, assume, the same old same old. Pipes burst, things happen and if we all remain calm and DON'T assume that the bad guys are after us, we win, they lose. As they say, when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras...think ordinary, not unusual and there will be a whole lot less fear in your life. And for heaven's sake, do not spend a minute of your precious life being anymore afraid than you have to be and don't waste a moment seeing "I now pronounce you chuck and larry." talk about pollution...

you hear me say all the time that if something doesn't happen to you, it doesn't happen and i had a recent example of just that: i was away when my friend, Joel Siegel died last week. i found out as i was reading a mag on the train on the way to a screening. i knew he was very sick and had been for quite some time, but he was a fighter and wanted to stick around for his nine year old son. he trusted me enough to ask me to help him when he was too weak to fetch a cab or manage a staircase or needed someone to share an ice cream cone with tho he wouldn't talk movies with me. he said each of us had to come to our own conclusions (we didn't like the same things at all). he was cheerful and cranky, smart and silly and i shall miss him.

well happy independence to y'all. just got home from west virginia. what a beautiful place and i saw alot more of the good old usa than anticipated. member the day they cancelled 1000 flights, well 3 of em were mine; and the amtrak only runs every other day, so we boogied on home in the rain with the banjos from deliverance trailing in our wake. please don't blow up any hands, eyes or neighbors in your celebration and make sure and use sunblock, my little chickadees.