Some years ago Brent Spiner, the actor who played Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation, released an album called "Ol’ Yellow Eyes Is Back." I’ve thought of it several times over the last few days, as Finn’s peepers (and skin) have had a decidedly yellowish hue. It’s pretty common for babies to have a little jaundice as their bodies learn to process bilirubin (which sounds like the name of someone’s accountant, but isn’t). Fortunately Finn seems well on his way to working it out of his system, and he’s pinking up nicely.
The whole thing made me think of a cautionary character from my mom’s family’s past. My mom and her sisters (and subsequently the next generation of us kids) were always told, "Don’t drink coffee, or you’ll end up yellow like Michael Scrima!" Kids love hearing about this magical power of their parents’ drink, not to mention getting to say "Screee-ma." Poor Michael; who knows what happened to him, or why he was yellow, or whether he even was yellow at all. He’s probably at a Starbucks somewhere right now, enjoying some Grande Vente caffine bomb and wondering why his yellow ears are burning. 😉