609. Measuring

In our culture, it’s customary to acknowledge people when you happen to get eye contact with them. If you don’t know them, you say “Hi,” and maybe talk about the weather a little. S. I. Hayakawa (whom I admired as a student of language, though I didn’t like his politics) called this “the language of…

Most of us usually want our children to grow. We realize that if they keep doing it, eventually they won’t technically be our children any more – our sons and daughters, yes, but not our children. There’s different degrees of sadness about that, but there’s often a lot of joy there, too. I love spending…

I once read a book that had very practical advice for parents. I don’t remember the name of the book, or the author, but I particularly remember one bit of advice it gave: “If you deserve a break today, hire a babysitter and go to a slow food restaurant.” My children were the age the…

I used to get intimidated by people who seemed to have what they called “silent understandings” with people. I thought that my own use of words was kind of obsessive, and that some day, if and when I really got my act together, I’d be able to have silent understandings with people, too. So far,…

Most Sunday mornings, I go to services at the local Unitarian Society. It’s not the way I’d choose to spend my time if I had lots of options. I’d rather just hang out with people; I’m not into organized religion. But lots of people are into it, and Sunday mornings can get to be lonely…

I remember the first time a very young child came to me and started a story with “Mr. Blue, when I was little…” I did manage to keep myself from laughing out loud, but I thoroughly enjoyed hearing that opening line. There I was, over twenty years old, hearing a six year old child reminisce…