Hillary actually talked about Schleppy today

Hillary's sister Hope is very hugely pregnant with twins after many years of trying, so it's a pretty exciting time for them and I wish I was in Massachusetts to go to the shower and to shop for fun baby things. When I spoke with Hillary this morning, she told me about all the things she's gotten for the babies (a boy and a girl). She MADE them a cradle from scratch, for crying out loud (yes, this is the same Hillary of Scrabble tile fame), she's making the mattress, the sheets, the blankets, the whole nine yards. She got each baby a huge stuffed animal, too, and these words actually came from her mouth, "I was gonna get Schleppy, but I decided on Garstang the Gorilla for the boy and Manni the teddy bear for the girl." This is Hillary, the woman I've been friends with for 23 years now and who never once acknowledged the existence of any of the stuffed children, but she remembered Shleppy. Hillary doesn't humor me when I tell her stories about the things Annabelle thinks or her motivations for doing the crazy things she does. But new babies are on the way, and they'll do crazy things to a person. Sheesh. Over in Littleton, Massachusetts, the Schleppies are smiling.