How I Made My Dad Laugh Today

When my dad asked how much all this (his 24-day-and-counting stay in the ICU) was going to cost, my mom immediately reassured him by saying that Medicare would cover it.

I put it in slightly different terms.

I told him there was no need to worry about it because George W. Bush was picking up the tab.

I loved seeing him laugh—for the first time in days, if not weeks—but the accompanying I'm-getting-one-over-on-the-president expression was pretty great, too.