With my thanks to Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman, the geniuses who bring us the daily guffaws at the expense of Jeremy, Hector, Pierce and the rest.
Here are two friends whose shared history brings them a great deal of understanding of one another. To be sure, Hector has a ton of self-awareness and Jeremy.... Well, let's just say, he's just the typical teenaged work in progress.
Here are two friends whose shared history brings them a great deal of understanding of one another. To be sure, Hector has a ton of self-awareness and Jeremy.... Well, let's just say, he's just the typical teenaged work in progress.
This winter I met a lady whose name and reputation preceded her. What I knew of her dated back to when I worked for a nonprofit, and she was the target of a lot of massaging and persuading and petting and cooing. In other words, they wanted her to give them money. Well, fast forward to now and her life is nothing like what it was then and the adjustments she's had to make have been drastic and unsettling. That she's made that transition with such grace and equanimity is a testament to the prairie spirit that runs through her veins.
Most of us find we are survivors and can take no small amount of comfort in the fact that not only could we pick ourselves up out of the dust, but we could walk away with dignity. And that is what we have both done. In the course of solving a common problem, we found several other commonalities and have formed a mutual sense of respect for flexibility that we never knew we had.
Much of this comes from listening. Both of us are writers and writers have to be exceptional listeners. It is true we talk a lot, but it is equally true that when we listen, we are taking in a whole host of information. We hear the cadence of speech patterns, mood, themes, turns of phrase, implications, pronunciation, and so much of the minutiae human emotion evokes from second to second. Humans are like a daily comic strip. We set up the joke, and we deliver the punchline. And from day to day we've no idea how others will react. Oh, we have our suspicions and we certainly are pretty good at projecting the possibilities, but sometimes the person sitting across the table surprises us, and that's what we have to be prepared to experience.
Today, I want to celebrate all the friendships I've enjoyed over the years, especially the ones that the Scott and Borgman picture so aptly depicts. I especially look forward to the ones that will become as comfortable as Jeremy and Hector's. May we continue to be the support system that enables us to laugh and enjoy our lives.
Cheers!
Most of us find we are survivors and can take no small amount of comfort in the fact that not only could we pick ourselves up out of the dust, but we could walk away with dignity. And that is what we have both done. In the course of solving a common problem, we found several other commonalities and have formed a mutual sense of respect for flexibility that we never knew we had.
Much of this comes from listening. Both of us are writers and writers have to be exceptional listeners. It is true we talk a lot, but it is equally true that when we listen, we are taking in a whole host of information. We hear the cadence of speech patterns, mood, themes, turns of phrase, implications, pronunciation, and so much of the minutiae human emotion evokes from second to second. Humans are like a daily comic strip. We set up the joke, and we deliver the punchline. And from day to day we've no idea how others will react. Oh, we have our suspicions and we certainly are pretty good at projecting the possibilities, but sometimes the person sitting across the table surprises us, and that's what we have to be prepared to experience.
Today, I want to celebrate all the friendships I've enjoyed over the years, especially the ones that the Scott and Borgman picture so aptly depicts. I especially look forward to the ones that will become as comfortable as Jeremy and Hector's. May we continue to be the support system that enables us to laugh and enjoy our lives.
Cheers!
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