One of the best parts about this trip to see my big sis Shawnee in New Zealand is being able to hang out with my brother in law Jim Gilhooley. If you can’t tell by the last name, the bloke’s Scottish. He’s also hilarious. He’s constantly riding me about the bottomless pit that my stomach has become since I’ve arrived here. In my defense, every time I try to curb my appetite a bit, my sister says, “You’re on holiday. You’re supposed to eat.”

This usually leads to a second helping.

He’s also been on my case about my complete lack of interest in rugby, soccer, or fast cars. He started a sentence the other day by saying, “If you were a car man…” but with his Scottish accent I thought he said, “If you were a Carmine…”

I was like, who the hell are the Carmines?

He said trying to make me understand, “A Carmine, Carmine… CARMINE…”

I looked over to my sister and she said calmly, “He’s saying… if you were a car man.”

So, now he’s on my case about not being able to understand him. I laughed and communicated to him that I’m not into cars or into sports. I’m basically what he might call a woman.

Without even pausing, he pointed to my belly and said, “Yeah. A pregnant woman.”

He refers to this kind of ribbing as ‘taking the piss out of me’. After he comes out with one his clever quips in my direction, he’ll just laugh and wink and say, “I’m just taking the piss out of you.”

I’m pretty sure by the end of this visit I wont have any piss left in me to take out.

I really love this picture I took of Jim while we were at the National Museum Of New Zealand – Te Papa Tongarewa. I think it reflects how colorful and loving this man truly is.

~Jim~

Jim Gilhooley at Te Papa Tongarewa (Wellington, New Zealand)