I have 3 nieces, 3 nephews. The oldest is 9, and quite upset and worried about all this "stuff" - I havent talked to him directly about it, just about what 4th grade is like, how much homework he's doing, regular stuff. He thinks I'm cool cuz i play online, and I live in NY. About 2 years ago, late at night while we were both staying with his Grandma (my Mom) at Xmas, he came into my room while I was online, chatting with a pal. He wanted to know what "NYfuzzyboy" meant (my screenname). I explained nicknames (I live in New York, I'm a boy, and my, um, er, chin, is fuzzy), and then he wanted to know what "Latinoguy4u" meant (my pal). The next day, all 6 kids were busy with crayons and paper, making drawings with "We Love NY Fuzzyboy" as their heading! They all thought it was the funniest thing, and seemed to entertain them for hours that day; and they still sometimes call me that. Their mothers - my sisters - found it to be amusing for a wider variety of reasons, of course.

Today is their 39th birthday, my sisters (they are fraternal twins). Somehow I managed to get a card/small gift out to them on Saturday, and they might actually receive it today, the mail seems to be running normally again. Coincidentally, a different type of "sister" (Blogstalker) is having his first 39th birthday today - if you haven't been following his blog, you should; and you should definately send him a birthday email.