Happy Birthday Sherlock Holmes

Yes, today is the birthday of this world-renowned fictional character.

My love of all things Holmes goes back to High School when I checked out the complete Sherlock Holmes and read it cover to cover. I loved it. I sought out some of the pastiches of Holmes along with his son’s work but none really satisfied me the way that the original did.

I saw tv movies and films about Holmes but none really felt right for me until Mystery presented the Jeremy Brett and I fell in love all over again. I taped those and watched them over and over until the video tape was beyond hope. Peter, knowing how much I loved the series, got it for me for my birthday this year. I re-watched several episodes and it still worked for me.

This year we have the Movie which many people have strong feelings about. Mine are mostly positive. And if it revives Holmes in the mind of the general population, all the better.

I recently pulled out my complete Sherlock Holmes and sat down to reread the Study in Scarlet and it holds up. I have a feeling I will be rereading the whole book over the next couple of months.

I am grateful that Conan Doyle created the Great Detective and I forgive him for killing that character out of frustration.

LJ Idol Season 6 Week 9 The Better Half

(Caroline and Peter making brownies together on a cold and snowy afternoon)

This is a picture of my better halves, my husband Peter and my daughter Caroline. They make me be a better person and care for something outside of my problems and myself. They help me to be all that I can be.

My daughter believes that I can do anything. “Mommy can fix any toy and repair any stuff animal.” “Mommy is the best cook except Grandma” (which I give her because my mother is a gourmet cook and I am not even close to her level of culinary skill) “Mommy can clean anything and she is so good at organizing” (this is usually followed with a plea to help her with her room which she has torn up looking for something). “Mommy can talk to the cats and they listen to her and do what she wants.” She holds a belief still that I am magical and all knowing. She loves me because I am silly. She hugs me when I am feeling blue. She tries to help me feel better. She is my world and I am hers.

My husband believes I have great-untapped potential. He believes in what I can do and me. He has made me step up my game many times and in doing so, I have found out that I can do more than I thought I could. I have pulled costumes together that I never thought I could do. He appreciated my mind. We talk a lot about things he is working on. We have a couple things that we are doing together. I am his sounding board and my input is valued. Years ago we were talking about Maddrox and what could you do with a mutant that replicates himself. I remember that I had this weird idea and I laughed. Peter asked me what was so funny. I told him that he would think it was stupid. He said to let him be the judge of that. I asked him what if Maddrox had a split personality disorder to the point that each dupe was a different personality. We bounced the idea around a bit and Peter wrote the Maddrox mini-series, which led into the current run of X-Factor.

He is there for me. He understands my weird moods and me. He knows what I like and surprises me with things I didn’t know I liked until he introduces me to them. There is so much that we have in common. We always have something to talk about. He has really cool friends and he likes my friends too. My family knows that he loves me and they love him. He makes me a better person and makes me strive to be all I can be for him.

Together and separately they are my better half. They complete me in ways I didn’t know I needed to be complete in. They have made me the person I am today. And for that I try to be the better half for them.