A visit from our German shepherd

Who is the cool dude in the shades? Why, it's our German Shepherd, Pope Benedict XVI!

Il papa will be here in four days, and Meelyn is terribly pleased that he'll be in the United States for her birthday, which is on April 17. He's not coming to visit us on that day, although if he wanted to, we'd be happy to take him with us to Mee's choice of birthday restaurant (she's still making up her mind since our city seems to be the Chain Restaurant Capital of the western world, so it would be short notice.)

(And hey! I'm editing this post to add that I just found out that Pope Benedict's birthday is on April 16! He's almost Meelyn's birthday twin!)

One of the things I like best about Pope Benedict is that he looks so much like our Grandad. Many people say that the pope's deeply set eyes are scary-looking, but since he looks so grandfatherish to me, I've never seen them that way. He and Grandad even have the same white candy floss hair. Cute!

Anyway, despite his stern looks, Pope Benedict is reported to be a very warm and likeable person with a keen sense of humor, also just like Grandad. They only physical dissimilarities they have are that Grandad generally tools around the assisted living center in his scooter, while the pope cruises in the Popemobile. Also, Grandad can generally be found in a pale blue Izod cardigan over a golf shirt, while the pope usually wears all white.

We would love to be able to go and join the crowds to see the pope in person. How awesome would that be, especially since I had the privilege of seeing Pope John Paul II when I was in Rome at age 15 with my grandma. He'd only been the pope for a few weeks. We saw him rather close up and he was so vibrant and handsome. Anyway, I'd like to see Pope Benedict so that I could keep my streak of Seeing Popes in Person going, but I don't think it's likely to happen.

Unless, of course, he takes us up on our offer to come to Meelyn's birthday dinner.

Here's a really good piece from the Wall Street Journal by the fabulous Peggy Noonan about Benedict and John Paul. It really is a must read. She's such a great writer.