“I’m going out to get the monkey before it gets dark.”

Sometimes I surprise myself when I actually pay attention to what I’ve just said.

Today we were cleaning out boxes of old junk. Greg ran across a stuffed monkey he’d picked up as a promotional giveaway at a conference years ago. Deciding it wasn’t a significant keepsake, he tossed it to A.J.

While Greg and I continued going through boxes A.J. took the stuffed monkey and immediately chewed half of its face off. A little bit later I realized A.J. wasn’t there anymore, and knew he’d taken the monkey outside. When he came back in he left the monkey out.

I don’t like to leave stuffed toys outside, they just get dirty and soggy and disgusting. (Yes, even more disgusting than the toys that don’t go outside.) Thus, later that day, the comment “I’m going out to get the monkey before it gets dark.”

Greg didn’t even look up from the magazine he was reading, he just mumbled “OK” and continued reading.