There Must Always Be A Thor.

This morning before work I bought THOR #1 at our local comics shop. It came out yesterday, but scuttlebutt's gone around for months, good and bad, about how the latest incarnation of the character is a woman. And there's nothing wrong with that -- in fact, the Thor best known from Marvel's comics and movies still exists, he just can't lift his hammer Mjolnir (pronounced me-OHL-ner; I didn't know it for years) anymore, and Thor's dad Odin had originally enchanted it so only someone "worthy" can lift it, no matter how strong they are.

And in comics so far, only a handful of people have been able to lift Mjolnir -- Superman in a Marvel/DC crossover, Captain America (the Steve Rogers version, for now a new person has that mantle too), Beta Ray Bill (an alien guardian of his people), and a 26th century man named Dargo Ktor come to mind right now -- and use it due to the enchantment, not because the uru metal that it's made of is heavy.

But now with the enchantment (the full text on Mjolnir reads WHOSOEVER HOLDS THIS HAMMER IF HE BE WORTHY SHALL POSSESS THE POWER OF THOR) even Odin who originally put it there can't lift it. When you see or if you care who picks it up when all the other Asgardians fail -- oh yeah, I can tell you the new wielder of the hammer is from Thor's homeland -- at tale's end ... hey, it's a good story. All I ask of most comic books; so what if now I add an S?

And I'm coming back to a lot of them that I read as a kid thanks to Will at Original Comics & Collectibles here in Minot, and that is perhaps my longest digression yet! So let's get to the family; for the last few weeks my wife Martha has been missing her left big toenail because it had grown inward. And apparently it's been treated so it won't grow back, but she still has to drain it, needing to give her foot an Epsom salt bath nearly every night. She can still walk, of course. Quite well.

The birthday party season has begun, and our daughter Sarah got her first invitation last night to her classmate Damia's party to be held at Planet Pizza this Saturday afternoon! And like any good father, I was reminded and made sure to call Damia's mom once I dropped the kids off at school; she was so thankful I did because she wondered aloud what she would do with all the tickets she was buying (for the kids to play games and then redeem what they win for prizes)! Kids ... not a problem.

And the best and smartest -- he has issues affirming this himself -- little boy in the world, our son Jeffrey, has just been taking off with his reading and schoolwork. And he's so proud that he was this morning tall enough to reach the top of our refrigerator without standing on his tiptoes. Although there are some concerns among us and at school that he doesn't hold still for long, I think that's an advantage ... it means you have to come up with something that will keep him engaged.

Could be 'cause he's two steps ahead of you. (My first grade teacher and my mom, seriously, would talk about the same thing with me when I was his age.) Tonight Martha's allowing Sarah and Jeffrey to go to North Hill Bowl with her -- it's her bowling league night, but there is no childcare like there used to be -- and I will get a call if they get out of control. They're sister and brother, sometimes that happens. They say they want to get out the door to get to school and then dawdle ...

But I love 'em, David