Darwin would be so proud...

One day when my son was about a year old, we were at the library, waiting in line to have our books checked out. It was a long line, and my son liked being near me; but he'd passed the twenty-pound mark when he was five months old, and I couldn't hold him for extended periods. So I sat him down on the surface of the checkout counter. He was delighted by the view.

A lovely old gentleman saw us and marveled at my son's being "able to get up there." Rather than correct him, I said rather saucily that my son was half monkey on his father's side. "My goodness," the gentleman said mildly, and it was only then that I reflected on what exactly that said about whom I'd married. Plus, how nice of me to publicly consign my son to primate-mutant status.

I mentioned this story to him recently, and he said, "Thanks a lot!"