You don't say his name, you say mine

this ask made me wanna do a comic about leo coming out because it's a very sweet moment, and i love them dearly 😞

Today this woman called our information desk and said, “my son’s band is playing tonight. I want to come see him, but he never answers his phone…..I want to be there. Have you heard anything about his band?”

And I felt so bad for this lady but I’m not in the music scene around here so I had to tell her no, sorry.

Five hours later, I’m hiking and run into a group of guys setting up for some outdoor performance, and as I watch them unload the drums it hits me.

“Hey,” I said, “are y’all in a band?”

They said yeah and smiled and I told them “one of your moms called today. She wants to watch you play, but she can’t get a hold of you. Call your mom.”

And they all pulled out their phones and started discussing whose mom it probably was as they presumably dialed their own.

And now, unless we meet again and recognize each other, that’s who I’ll be forever to those guys–some mysterious courier for mom-messages who came out of the woods and told them their mom called.

I didn’t even tell them why their mom called me. Who am I to their mom?? Nobody even asked. They just took my word for it and called their mothers.

a wolf’s fur is so unbelievably thick that you can get like, your whole hand into it while petting. and then you can keep going

wolves are a lot bigger than you think they are. think about how big you think a wolf is then just like double that

they dont really smell like dog but they DO smell and youre not going to be able to figure out if its a good smell or not

a wolf really wants to lick the inside of your mouth. he will not stop trying to lick the inside of your mouth at any cost, and generally speaking you need to press your lips together kind of tightly when he approaches your face so that he doesnt worm his damn tongue in there to give you what he thinks is an appropriate greeting

a wolf doesnt really want to look at you while you pet him but he wants you to pet him. hes embarrassed

if a grown ass wolf decides to lay down on you, you just have to deal with it and thats your life now

young wolves, much like young dogs, are overwhelmingly goofy and stupid. a teenage wolf will see your very fragile, very human shoulder and go “i can probably step on that with my full weight” and then he will do it

"Want to feel old?" "Yes."

Fifteen Years [Explained]

Transcript

From Two Years: [Randall (drawn as Cueball) and Randall's fiancée (drawn as Megan) sit on a bed, Randall's fiancée is talking on the phone. The person she is talking to, a doctor holding a clipboard, is shown inset.] Randall's fiancée: Oh god.

[Randall and Randall's fiancée sit together while Randall's fiancée, now bald, is receiving chemotherapy. They are both on their laptops.] IV pump: ... Beeep ... Beeep ... Beeep ...

[Randall and Randall's fiancée (who is wearing a knit cap) are paddling a kayak against a scenic mountain backdrop.]

[Randall and Randall's fiancée sit at a table, staring at a cell phone. There is a clock on the wall. Her head is stubbly.] Randall's fiancée: How long can it take to read a scan!?

[Randall and Randall's fiancée are back at the hospital again, Randall's fiancée receiving chemo. They are playing Scrabble.] Randall: "Zarg" isn't a word. Randall's fiancée: But ''caaaancer.'' Randall: ...Ok, fine.

[Randall and Randall's fiancée (wearing a knit cap) are listening to a Cueball-like friend. A large thought bubble is above their heads and it obscures the friends talk. The text below, split in three is the only part there can be no doubt about:]

Friend: So next year you should come visit us up in the mounta - Randall and Randall's fiancée (thinking): '''"Next year"'''

[Randall and Randall's fiancée are getting married, with a heart above their heads. Randall's wife's hair is growing back.]

[Randall and Randall's wife (wearing a knit cap) stand on a beach, watching a whale jump out of water.] ''Fwoosh''

From Seven Years:

[Randall and Randall's wife (with her hair noticeably longer) are walking through a forest.]

[Randall's wife is sitting down, not in the forest anymore.] Randall's wife: My toe hurts and I found a report of a case in which toe pain was an early sign of cancer spreading. Randall: Wait—didn’t you stub your toe yesterday? Randall's wife: Yes, but what if this is unrelated?

[Randall and his wife are going spelunking. The guide is gesturing deeper into the cave while Randall and his wife are climbing down.]

[Randall's wife stands on a rock above an alligator in a swamp, photographing the alligator. Randall is on a balcony behind safety railings.] Randall: When they estimated your survival odds, I think they made some optimistic assumptions about your hobbies.

[Randall's wife sits on an examination bed, listening to a doctor holding a clipboard.]

Doctor: This is probably nothing. Doctor: But given your history, we should do a full scan. Doctor: We'll call with the results in a few days. Try not to worry about it until then!

[Randall and his wife stand above a deep pond full of fish and other objects. Randall's wife is piloting a wired underwater camera with lights.]

[Randall and his wife are standing next to each other. Randall's wife has shoulder-length hair covering most of her face.] Randall's wife: Hard to believe—six years ago, I was bald. But today, after a long struggle, I finally look like the little girl from ''The Ring''. Randall: That's, uhh... good? Randall's wife: ''Hissssss''

[A line of six people, including Randall and his wife, stand and watch the solar eclipse.]

From Ten Years:

[Randall and his wife are sitting in a room with five bunnies sitting around and on them. The Poster on the wall reads: Rabbit rescue.] Randall: Do you think they're socialized enough? Randall's wife: This one might need one more head pat.

[Randall is running and pushing his wife on a hand cart.]

Someone off-panel: Has anyone seen the hand cart? Randall's wife: Wheee!

[Randall and his wife walks up hill with snowy mountains near by and in the background. his wife is gesturing to something ahead of them.]

[A large dark panel, to the right of the previous three, to the left in two rows. Randall and his wife sits, leaning back on their hands looking up, at the end of a pier going into a lake. The end is broader and they sit to each side of the middle of the pier. It is night and behind the lake there is a forest of pine trees. Above the three is a clear starlit night sky with hundreds of stars and the band of the Milky Way clearly visible. The trees and some of the stars are reflected in the water of the lake, distorted by the movements of the water. There is a box with the words "Ten Years" in the center of the image.]

From Fifteen Years:

[Randall and his wife are cuddling in their bed together. Randall is presumably reading from the book he is holding in his hand, Moominland Midwinter.] Randall's wife: One more chapter? Randall: Don't we both have to get up early tomorrow? Randall's wife: ''Nnnnnggggh'' Randall: Sure, good point.

[Randall and his wife are walking through a city. In the background is Hairy, Ponytail, and White Hat. Everyone is wearing a face mask and looking on their cellphones. On the phone are various graphs of COVID-19 statistics.]]

[Randall is wearing a beanie and a scarf, while his wife is wearing a matching scarf. Randall is holding out his hand to feed birds birdseed, while his wife is holding a cellphone with a bird on it.] Randall: Hah! They like '''''my''''' seeds best. Randall's wife: Wait, how do I take a picture of this one?

[Randall and his wife are kayaking in a river. There are 3 fluffy clouds in the sky and 6 birds. A forest grows on the riverbank, which is partially covered by reeds. There are lily pads on the river and a small turtle is on one of them.]

[Randall is lying in bed with his head propped up by 3 pillows, facing his wife. She is holding a large pile of items in her hands: a takeout box, a pillow, two blankets, a pill box, and a mug.] Randall's wife: I brought you honey lemon tea, more pillows, a cinnamon roll, Tylenol, another blanket, a— Randall: It was just appendicitis, I'm really— Randall's wife: '''It is my turn to take care of you and I'm going to do it right!'''

[Randall and his wife are sitting in their car, still and in shock. Randall is in the driver's seat.]

[Randall and his wife are still sitting in the same position in their car.] Randall's wife: Oh my god. Randall: Oh my god.

[The car is moving quickly and gravel can be seen bouncing up behind the car, as well as exhaust.] Randall's wife: Pull over! Randall: I am!

[The car has been parked and Randall and his wife are scrambling to get out of the car.]

[Randall and his wife are standing by the edge of a lake. The color is inverted, with the background geography black and their bodies white. A beautiful aurora of reds and greens is spread across the night sky.]

[Randall's wife is leaning against a tree and Randall is lying down on the grass looking up towards the sky.] Randall's wife: Fifteen years. No signs of cancer.

[Zoom in of Randall's wife's face.] Randall's wife: I am having some weird symptoms. Joint pain. Fatigue. I think I'm losing my close-up vision. Off panel voice: Yeah. Me too.

[Zoom out, back to the original panel with the tree on the hill. Randall's wife is facing down towards Randall.] Randall: I think we're getting old.

And so the two surgeons filmed a handover after heart surgery and sent it to the Ferrari pitcrew who were told to critique and improve handover process

And from this:

we got this:

The error rate during patien handovers dropped from 30% to 10% with the F1 informed protocol.

I love this!

And it that it wasn't a one and done.

The doctors went to the race tracks to watch the car changes and the pit crews went to the hospitals and watched a live transfer and offered suggestions and they kept working with them to improve.

After there was a successful improvement of the most vital metrics of a handover of a patient from surgery to ICU, the pit crews also worked with other hospitals for other procedures and it's now a whole thing of trying to apply the specialized, streamlined and speedy teamwork and nonverbal coordination of pit crews to other high-risk fields.