Because I’ve been stuck on crutches lately, Moonie and I took our first walk in nearly two weeks yesterday – and made a horrible discovery. His very favorite tree, which some lovely person or persons had “knitbombed” a couple of years ago, lay broken and dead on the ground.

I haven’t seen Moonie’s lower lip tremble like that since the bakery was out of cookies. He quickly ran over to give the tree a healing hug.

Then we spotted this happy stuffed taco in the window of our local toy store.
“Hi!” called out the friendly taco.
“Hi,” answered Moonie with a bit of a sniffle.
“You seem unhappy,” said the taco. “Wanna TACO ’bout it?”

Moonie sniffled again, but I could see that smile starting to play around his lips.
“Know what kind of cheese you remind me of, kid?” the taco asked. “BLUE cheese!”

This time Moonie did smile. “It’s OK,” he responded. “It’s NACHO problem.”

“Ha!” said the taco. “Hey, what do you call cheese that isn’t yours?”
“What?” asked Moonie.
“Nacho cheese!” yelled the friendly taco, and they both laughed.

“What’s the most religious cheese?” asked Moonie.
“What?” asked the taco.
“Swiss cheese, ’cause it’s HOLY!” shouted Moonie, and they both howled.

“When should you keep an eye on your cheese?” asked the taco.
“When?” asked Moonie.
“When it’s up to no GOUDA!” shouted the taco, and the two were in hysterics.

“Why should you bring a bag of chips to a party?” asked Moonie.
“Why?” asked the taco.
“IN QUESO emergency!” he shrieked, and they were off again in gales of laughter.

“What kind of cheese surrounds a medieval castle?” asked the taco.
“What?” asked Moonie.
“MOATzerilla!” screamed the taco. People were starting to stare at how hard they were laughing.

“What’s a lion’s favorite kind of cheese?” asked Moonie.
“What?” asked the taco.
“ROARquefort!” bellowed Moonie, and they were off again.

They finally ran out of cheese jokes, but this time, when Moonie wiped away a little tear, it was a happy one. He’ll still miss his sweater-wearing tree, but he’ll find other things in the neighborhood to delight in.