My Favorite Boyfriend

Sometimes we like to watch the Sherlock series, which is not really a series so much as collection of very short movies. It’s produced by the BBC, which is from England, and I guess “across the pond” they do things a lot differently than we do over here. Whoever heard of a TV season that has only three episodes?? But at least each episode is an hour and a half long. And, of course, the icing on the cake is that each episode is just about the best thing you’ll ever see on your television set.

We love Sherlock. We love the show, and we love Sherlock Holmes. Tillie in particular really loves Sherlock. She’s enamored. And in a way I can’t blame her, because…well, just look at him! He’s gorgeous, with that curly black hair, piercing blue eyes, and high cheekbones. You can’t help but look at this rendition of Sherlock Holmes (who is really just an actor with the unfortunate name of Benedict Cumberbatch) and not have your breath taken away.

But, I’m not here to talk about the shockingly attractive Sherlock Holmes, because, as it turns out….I’m rather fond of breathing. I don’t really want to have my breath taken away. I much prefer a boyfriend with whom I can….breathe easy. And so, when it comes to the Sherlock show, my favorite boyfriend is Dr. John Watson.

First of all, he may be no Benedict Cumberbatch, but he’s not exactly difficult to look at, either. Cute, no? In a hobbity kind of way. (That’s a little inside joke, because, in case you didn’t know, the actor Martin Freeman, who plays Dr. John Watson, has also portrayed the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, in the movie The Hobbit.) And another thing I simply can’t resist…how about that charming British accent??

Compared to his counterpart Mr. Cumberbatch – Holmes, this Dr. Watson is short (like we Whimsies are) and somewhat unassuming. Which is as it should be. He doesn’t put on airs. Which is as it should be. Sherlock is the mad genius, always
going off on some tangent that’s not a tangent at all, but the roundabout way to the solution to the entire problem. But his friend, slow and steady as a rock Dr. Watson is the calming influence in their happy little home right there at 221-B Baker Street.

If you ask me, Sherlock Holmes is the kind of guy you like to look at on a TV show, but you would never really bring home to meet Mother. Because if you did, he’d probably take one look around the room, say something snide, then blurt out all the family secrets everyone has tried so hard for so many years to keep deeply hidden.

John Watson, on the other hand, is certainly the kind of guy you’d like to have over at your next dinner party. He may not be as smart as Sherlock, but that doesn’t mean he’s a big dummy. Oh no! Far from it! He’s quite intelligent, he just doesn’t go around rubbing it in people’s faces all the time—like some people we know. I mean, let’s think of it: he’s a soldier, and he’s a doctor. He’s skilled, accomplished, dedicated, loyal, and his middle name is Hamish.

What’s not to love?

Mostly he plays the straight man to Sherlock’s petulant quipping, but on occasion he gets off some pretty good lines. What a wit! Like when he and Sherlock are trying to pull off some elaborate ruse, and Sherlock says “Punch me in the face. Didn’t you hear me?” and Watson returns, “I always hear ‘Punch me in the face’ when you’re speaking, but it’s usually sub-text.” OMG, we roared when we heard that one!

And how about this? Dr. Watson, annoyed at Sherlock, says, “Can we not do this this time? You, looking all mysterious, with your cheekbones, and turning your coat collar up so you look cool.” Haha!

It must be difficult to walk in the shadow of a giant like Sherlock Holmes. That’s why I’m glad that in the final “season” of the show, the writers actually allow our dear Dr. Watson to get married! Oh, I know he’s my boyfriend, but I can be reasonable about this. I’m so glad they let him get married! Because he deserves it, he deserves to be happy. Sherlock isn’t always the best friend. He can be short and irritable, even insulting. He’s not a “people person.” John Watson puts up with a lot from Sherlock. I can’t imagine him actually being happy with this high-cheekboned brainiac as a roommate. If you live with Sherlock Holmes, you’re always going to be “supporting cast.” But one can only hope that in his new marriage, Dr. Watson will finally have found an EQUAL partner.

Of course, almost as soon as Watson gets married, we find out his new wife is really like this super-spy that used to always go around killing people. But now she’s sorry, and she’s put all that behind her. We don’t know what her real name is, but she’s calling herself “Mary” now, and Mary is a good, safe, happy kind of name. Mary wants to settle down and have kids with her new husband. And guess what? They’re pregnant!

Of course it was the inscrutable, incalculable Sherlock Holmes that figured that out before either of them did. I guess he’ll be Uncle Sherlock and teach the baby how to read footprints and stray paint chips and the meaning of raindrops on the back of somebody’s collar. Mary and John can just be normal parents. At least I hope they will be.

And so, at the moment, we leave our dear Dr. Watson in a state of domestic bliss. (Well, except for the very last episode, where he watched Sherlock shoot the bad guy point blank, and oh, by the way, Moriarty is back!) But other than that, in his new marriage, with a wee one on the way, we can only hope that our all-around good guy Dr. Watson may at last find some of the happiness he so deserves.

Last night, we saw the first episode in the new Cosmos series. It’s going to go for thirteen weeks total, just like the original, which came out in 1980. I remember the original series oh, so well!! As I may have mentioned before, my Person Jennifer was not only a really smart girl on her own, but she got her smarts from her parents, who were both professors, and her father was some kind of science professor, though I was never exactly sure what he did. But he loved science, and his enthusiasm for it spilled over to Jennifer, which in turn spilled over to me, since I was always with her in those days.

Jennifer’s dad was so excited about the original Cosmos series, so each week that it was on, we all sat down on the couch in the living room and watched it. Those were good times! Good times full of so much wonderment and learning. And that original show was so gorgeous, and the music so haunting beautiful, that I’ve never forgotten it. These are some of my favorite memories.

And then this weekend, in preparation for the new series, they were showing the entire old series on television again! And Miss Chrissy taped it! So now we have all of the old Cosmos episodes in our personal library, and soon we will also have all of the new shows as well!

What a treat for a geek like me! I think while Trixie is reading her comic books, and Tessie is listening to her Placebo music, I’ll be watching these shows, over and over again.

I think it’s because I love these shows so much that I consider all of these scientists my favorite boyfriends. We mentioned a little while ago how smart Mr. Sherlock Holmes is, and how much we all love that about him. Well, I love a smart guy, that’s for sure! And these scientists are just about the smartest guys around!

But there’s something else about them that’s so appealing. It’s not just that they’re smart, they’re also so incredibly enthusiastic. They love what they’re doing, and they love learning new things and sharing them.

Take a look at the video here, which shows bits and pieces of the original Cosmos series, and lots and lots of stuff by some of my favorite scientists—Carl Sagan, from the original Cosmos, who made science cool for the ordinary person; Neil deGrasse Tyson, who has taken up the torch in the new series; Richard Feynman, with that winning smile; and Bill Nye, “The Science Guy.” Notice how excited they get about science, how much they love the miracle of it all.

“That makes me want to grab people in the street and say, ‘Have you heard this?’”

I’m nowhere near as smart as any of these brilliant men. But that doesn’t bother me. I’m always glad to learn what little I can, and become a smarter and better Whimsie in the process.

It’s great to be able to sit down again and refresh myself with all this science. It was great to have Jennifer and her dad to watch this with me, and now it’s great to have Miss Chrissy and The Man to share it with.

Trixie and Tessie are also coming along for the ride. Before this is all over, I think I might make science geeks out of them as well!

The Winter Olympics ended a few days ago, and it was a blast! Well…as always, there were a few moments that were less than spectacular (mostly, I hate seeing figure skaters falling on their derrieres, but that always happens). But despite that, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies were enchanting, and there were also lots and lots of really spectacular moments in the competitions. Trixie watched the ski jumping and the luge races where they go really fast on a curvy, snowy track in a little bullet-shaped car, but mostly I watched the figure skating, because it’s my very favorite of all the sports. I saw many, many great performances, but perhaps the greatest performances I saw were from the US Ice Dancing duo, Davis and White.

Look at them! They are so adorable together, don’t you think? They are sort of study in opposites. He’s so tall and blonde, and she’s so tiny and brunette. But somehow, still, they move like one person. It’s amazing. I think if I were to ever put on a pair of skates, I would be extremely klutzy. But if I were lucky enough to be able to actually maneuver around on ice skates, I would hope for a partner like tall, blonde, handsome Charlie White.

Yes, I mention that Charlie White is tall and blonde, (and did I mention handsome??) and I think that is a lot of what makes him my latest Favorite Boyfriend. There’s more, but that’s a good start.

First of all, let’s deal with that hair, shall we? Have you ever seen better hair on a figure skater? Heck! Have you ever seen better hair on anyone?? I love that he wears it long and doesn’t let anyone tell him to cut it off. When you’ve got it, you should flaunt it, right? So…flaunt it, Charlie!!

Now. Having crazy blonde curly hair is always nice, and being tall is also always nice, but if you ask me, BEING NICE is probably the nicest thing of all. Every time I saw these two talking to the cameras, they were always so nice, polite, friendly and happy. It was just fun to watch such happy people.

Well, wouldn’t you be happy if the thing you’ve trained and trained for was about to happen, and then it did happen? Davis & White won the Gold Medal in Ice Dancing, and it was well deserved. That is definitely good reason to smile.

But here’s what’s even better. I noticed that whenever the two of them are skating, tall blonde Charlie is ALWAYS smiling. (Meryl Davis is also probably always smiling, but when they’re skating, it’s hard for me to not look at Charlie…)

And what a winning smile! He always looks like he’s having the greatest fun, like he is just so happy to be doing what he’s doing. That kind of enthusiasm is so contagious, you can’t help hoping they’ll win. And it kind of makes you feel good about life in general.

The last I heard, there’s been some talk, but we still don’t know if these two are planning to “retire” from Ice Dancing. I hope they don’t. I hope we all will have many more chances to see them spinning around on the ice in perfect unison, doing those incredible lifts, and smiling away.

There can never be too many smiles in the world.

In honor of the beginning of these Winter Olympics, I thought I’d tell you a little bit about one of my Favorite Boyfriends, and why I think he is such a winner. It’s Michael Phelps, and I think he’s a winner because…well, because he is! He’s the biggest winner of the most medals at any Olympics EVER. I found him at the Summer Olympics a while back, and have followed his career with great interest, and he’s only gotten better and better.

When we all lived in The Hoard, no matter what else you could say about The Hoarder, she sure did love the Olympics, both Winter and Summer, and whenever they were on, she did not shut the TV off for weeks on end! She stayed up all night watching the Olympics, no matter what sport it was. She saw herself as a big supporter of Team USA, and had lots and lots of red, white and blue stuff in The Hoard, lots of flags and patriotic plates and cups, stuff like that. And the Olympics really set her heart on fire!

So, from my perch on top of our precarious mountain in The Hoard, I watched the Olympics with her, while Trixie was out and about seeking new comics to read, and Tessie socialized with a very friendly Barbie doll who lived on the next mountain. But I liked to stay put where I was and watch the Olympics, mostly because I was so fascinated by the incredible story of Michael Phelps!

Of course as we all know, he excels at swimming, and began swimming at a very early age. As a boy, he found out he has ADHD, which are a bunch of initials for a condition meaning he has trouble concentrating, and is sometimes hyperactive. So, to focus, he put all his energy into swimming, and got really really good at it. So good, that he started winning all kinds of medals, right up to the Olympics. And you can’t win any better medals than that!

I like the way he had a problem and found ways to deal with that problem and turn it into something positive. I like that when there were people who doubted he could do it, he used those negative comments as motivation to get better and better. He never let anything stand in the way of his goal. That’s all extremely admirable.

And there’s something else that’s admirable about him. Now that he’s won all those medals, and retired from swimming, he has a ton of money, and he uses some of it to help other people, especially little kids. How can you not love a guy that helps little kids?

But wait, there’s more! I haven’t even gotten around to how cute he is! He’s very tall, and somewhat skinny, and has beautiful brown eyes. Sometimes he can look sort of gangly and goofy, but then other times, he’s very handsome. Here’s his latest look, with the slicked back hair and glasses. I don’t know what that’s all about. Maybe he’s trying to be what Miss Chrissy calls a “hipster”?

Well, we might not get to see too much from Michael Phelps any more, at least not at the Olympics, because he has retired from swimming. Of course, you can still see him on TV commercials, for Subway and a bunch of other stuff, like Head & Shoulders shampoo. He’s made millions and millions of dollars and doesn’t need to work anymore, but he still likes to play golf, and I think sometimes he appears on TV shows.

I just hope that whatever he does next, he’ll always keep that commitment to do things to the very best of his ability. Take life by the horns and don’t let go! Be all you can be! I like that in a Boyfriend. In fact, I like that in anyone.