Hope you think of him with a smile. With all the travel I do, I am bound to meet some famous people. Yes, I met George.

George, back in 1995, inspired me to paint Bras. I remember reading or hearing his list of names for those two things (one of the 7 dirty words)that go inside a bra. Eventually, I painted over 80 different bras to needlepoint, among them Fried Eggs pictured above.

I read that George Carlin died of heart failure. Never imagined I would read his name in such a way this morning.

George, and of course the very early Cosby acts, were my favorite comedy acts. George's made you think a little bit about life. Yes, you needed to pay attention and have a good sense of humor to find the "moral" of the story.

Yes, George had a foul mouth. But, his ideas and his comedy really had some meaning to them. The one about the rich and golf courses sticks in my mind. The gist of that one was instead of spending money on golf courses for the rich, they should spend it on the needy. He considered golf courses a waste of water, land and of course, pollution with all the mowing and feeding and fuel to maintain a pass time for only the rich. Of course, he probably did not golf.

His act about the famous 7 dirty forbidden words, which incidentally, my mother managed to use several of in about every sentence when she spoke, really did not harm me "much". The following story was way before George brought them to our attention.

Somehow we knew they were not to be repeated. No one ever told our parakeet Elvis. Elvis landed in the mashed potato dish our mother made for dinner and did a perfect imitation of her. It happened to coincide exactly during the time the priest came to bless our house, scribble some letters over the front door and toss some incense on the stove, a yearly Roman Catholic tradition generally done yearly since I assume the blessing expired from the year before. Maybe he should have blessed Elvis and my mother.

I met George on a USAir flight from Philly to Scranton. It was on a small "hair spray can" commuter, a normal late and screwed up USAir flight. Twice we were on the bus to take us to the commuter plane and the second trip actually got us to the plane. I made a few comments and this almost bald man with a pony tail and groomed beard sitting on the bus across from me began laughing his a** off (one of the dirty words). I did not have a clue who he was and if I did, I would not have brought attention to him by asking.

Moments later, I said something else funny. He laughed again. Then a man next to me asked him if he was George and he said yes. Tada...it hit me, George Carlin laughing at me. He was dressed like every other bum air traveler. Hat, sneakers, tee shirt and jeans. He was traveling with a few younger guys, one toting a guitar.

He sat across the aisle from me on the plane and we spoke a little. Not much since I am not a talker on planes. He was on the way to My Airy Lodge in the Poconos for a gig.

A few weeks ago on my annual 8 hour drive to Columbus OH, the rental car had the XM radio. I found the comedy channel and heard several old Carlin and Cosby recordings. Kept me driving on with a smile.

Wonder if Jesus will bring George the Pork Chops? Funny Book. I read it a few times.

Now that George is gone, I won't loan it to anyone.

Sharon G