good grief

in many ways, liam seems like he was somehow plucked straight out of a lost era. if you ask him what his favorite toys are, he'll rattle off his top three: cars, balls, and marbles. his favorite movie? mary poppins. favorite author? dr. seuss. favorite television show? sesame street. and his favorite weekend ritual? to linger over the comics at sunday morning breakfast, focusing on the antics of the peanuts gang. in fact, his number one imaginary friend is none other than charlie brown. this morning, however, there were no peanuts to be had. sadly, the raleigh newspaper informed its readers recently that in an effort to save money, it was cutting "peanuts" from its lineup. so, instead, i found liam rather morosely perusing the used car section. he couldn't understand why linus and lucy weren't staring up at him from the funny pages, ready to brighten his day and cause that infectious laugh that puts us all in a good mood as we head out the door to church. how do you explain to a four-year old that our country is in such bad shape that our newspaper can't even afford to entertain us with one of the most beloved comic strips of all time? in the words of another disgruntled reader in the op/ed pages, that's not a recession. it's a depression. charlie brown couldn't have said it any better himself ... good grief!