Amelia is three. Her friend Alice is three, too. They had fun together at yesterday’s brunch. They had fun for a long time. They had fun until Alice hit Amelia. Then the fun was over, and Amelia started to cry. Through the tears, she screamed, for all to hear, “I need ham to make me feel better!” And that made me wonder. What if all the grownups in the room had started to scream, too? What if we’d all screamed out, for all to hear, “I need ____ to make me feel better?” I wonder what words would fill in all those blanks.
which way?
There are two ways to walk into a room -- "here I am" and "there you are." Somebody told me that a long time ago, and I try to pass it along, because it makes all the difference.
the steve story
The reunion was yesterday. We were eating lunch, catching up a little after thirty years. When we’d finished going around the table, we started wondering about the folks who hadn’t come, and that’s when Rich told us about Steve. He said Steve was working overseas a few years ago, so his company was handling his personal tax return for him. Their tax department contacted the CEO and said, “We’ve got a problem with Steve. He gave away over half his net income, and the IRS is never going to buy that.” I don’t know about the IRS, but I thought it was the best reunion story ever. I’m used to the stories about who got divorced and who landed the right job and whose children got into the right schools, but I’d never heard one about who gave away the most money. Steve wins.
"Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately. All the other things -- to rule, to lay up treasure, to build -- are at most but appendices and props." Michel de Montaigne (b. 1533)