Thank You, Mr. Wizard...

Don Herbert, known better to you and I as Mr. Wizard, died yesterday at the age of 89 of Bone Cancer.

I could go on and on about Mr. Wizard and how much I love him, but rather I will do what I do when most people I care about pass on. I will share a memory of them that makes me smile to celebrate their life and my experience with them and their time in this small patch of time.

Obviously I loved to watch Mr. Wizard as a child but I don't remember much of what I watched. However, he popped into my life again a year ago during the hullaballoo of my cousin Todd's wedding. My Aunt Barb and I were having a quiet moment, sitting at ther kitchen island before everyone was up, drinking coffee and eating bananas. Her son was going to be married and I think she was feeling nostalgic for the little boy who was really growing up for real, making a family of his own.

As I reached for a banana out of the fruit bowl, she said to me, "You know how you're really supposed to eat those, right?"

I looked at her, puzzled, saying, "Well, you peel them?"

She held out her hand for my banana and I handed it over. She held it in her hand, holding it by the stem, and began peeling it in three even strips, then returned it back to me, with the stem as the "handle."

"You eat it like the chimpanzees," she said. "I remember Todd and I watching Mr. Wizard and he showed us that. That way, the stem acts as a handle and the banana doesn't fall off while you are eating it."

I was in awe. At the time, I had been trying to eat more bananas and actually been quite irritated at the troubles I was having with the peeling of them and the bananas falling off constantly. I also abhorred the way the stem just dangled unevenly to the side while I tried to eat it. While I wanted more potatssium and a handy on-the-go snack, the banana seemed like so much work.

Yet, with my Aunt's advice, via Mr. Wizard, I can now eat bananas like the chimps. Brilliant.

Thank you Mr. Wizard, wherever you are.

I love you.