The Slice: Humor holds them together; you can take that to the bank

Tom and Sue in North Idaho have been dealing with a bank about refinancing some property.

But that’s not their No. 1 concern. You see, Tom has advanced cancer.

The other day, Sue knew that her husband was in another part of their home, talking on the phone to someone at the bank. When she saw him a few minutes later, she asked how it had gone.

“Well, they can’t do anything until my condition changes,” he said.

Sue saw red.

But Tom said he understood their position.

Sue, however, did not. She was upset. Until that is, she realized that her beloved husband had been talking to the organ bank. Not the bank bank.

“We have laughed about this confused conversation ever since,” said Sue.

Humor and faith are what keep them going, she said.

Pull vs. push: Noting that customers often arrive with their arms full, Chris Lang wonders why various package-sending locations cannot have a more user-friendly door arrangement. “I do realize that fire codes require that doors open outward from a business, but I would think that in the interests of customer service, et cetera, those businesses would have auto-opening or dual-direction doors.”

Updating for 2013: If we can put a man on the moon, it seems like we ought to be able to…

“Provide full dental care for the poor and senior citizens.” — Mary Enders

“Get people to pull their pants up.” — Becky Johnson

“See that no child goes to bed hungry or without access to adequate medical care.” — Chet Nelson

“Fix the potholes in our streets.” — Jeri Hershberger

“Make a school glue bottle that does not clog.” — Anne Remien

“Feed the hungry, in the U.S. and world-wide.” — Debra Park

“Come up with striping paint for our highways and city streets that doesn’t disappear in one season.” — Rosalyn Clark

“Electrocute murderers.” — Allison Schuster

“Clean up Hanford.” — Virg Kassa

“Track down the guy whose mail we get from collection agencies since we have owned this house (1978).” — Jim and Doris Elliott

Today’s Slice question: Which of your cherished interests did your children most emphatically reject?