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Saturday, June 20, 2009

A Marquee Father's Day

One of these two pictures is fake. Want to guess which one?



The first is a reference to President Hinckley’s Book of Mormon challenge of a few year’s back and was mass emailed across Mormondom with the caption, “Somewhere in Utah…” In case you never found out, it is fake. See the website address in the picture?

The second is real. It greeted me as I entered our subdivision on Friday coming home from work. I laughed as soon as I saw it. Then I came home and loved my family.

Yes, the Fairwood HOA marquee, which usually sports benign birthday best wishes, graduation congratulations and even the occasional anniversary boast, is now decorated with this cheeky message. Mary Karlee, perfectly understanding my so-subtle-it-might-be-an-insult sense of humor, ordered it as a Father's Day present. And because she used my first AND last name, we’ve already received a phone call asking, “So, did they mess up your message?” (No.)

To you, this message may come across as hen pecking, but that's cuz you don't appreciate the role of punctuation in life - especially in public advertisements. MK is actually harking back to the day that she and I read this message on our neighborhood marquee:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GABE
LOVE YOUR FAMILY


Sounds nice enough, right? I bet Gabe was glad his family thought of him. Until he realized that the second line should have a comma after the word "love." Without that seemingly trivial punctuation, Gabe's family is not taking credit for wishing him a happy birthday, but reminding him on his birthday that he is failing to appreciate them.

So now, all of Fairwood is probably wondering why Ryan Mullen needs a public reminder to love his family - except for Gabe, who already understands.

2 comments:

Alayne said...

Seriously, Ryan, it is time to show your family some love. I mean, my goodness, your wife had to post it on a public sign. Sheesh! It made me laugh when I saw it, although it did confuse me a bit!

TheSycamores said...

I am an eye witness that there is no man alive more loving to his family than Ryan Mullen! And that is a fact, and the truth as well. Happy Father's Day!