May 19, 2017
Friends are the family you choose
Jess C. Scott
One of the things that brightens my days is when I hear from one of our readers as well as from others I know. The other day one of the nurses who monitors my vitals remotely three times a week called just to see how I was doing and to chat a bit, it was the highlight of my day, My cardiologist has a nurse who regularly sends me e-mail messages that include her good wishes, she has become one of those friends I seldom or never see but who add pleasure to my days.
I also heard recently from a reader from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) who has been reading the Daily for almost fifteen years, he reported that he had been dropped from the mailing list and missed having it with his morning coffee. Yesterday a friend at a meeting I attended told me about feedback he got from friends on something he had sent them from a recent Daily.
These contacts and others help me to realize that we don’t have to see each other to be connected and I appreciate them all. How much I value my friendships also reminds me of how much I miss friends I have lost. Here is some tips from Psychology Today on how to reclaim friendships that have slipped away.
How to Rescue a Friendship
First you talked to each other every day, then once a week, then a few times a month. She got pregnant. You moved to another city. You got pregnant. She got divorced. Soon you were only speaking a few times a year. How do you rescue a friendship?
- Make the friendship a priority. In adolescence, “hanging out” is de rigueur, and thus teenagers tend to have a lot of friends. The multiple demands of adulthood limit opportunities to connect in this informal way. If you want to revive a dying friendship, you’ve got to set aside the time.
- Hug it out. Since intimacy is the keystone of friendship, tell your friend how you feel, that you miss her and don’t want to let this friendship slip away.
- The miracle of free long distance. E-mail is the obvious easy way to keep in touch, but the phone is better. Make sure your cell plan has a lot of minutes and vow to call your friend a few times a month. Put her name on speed dial, and when you arrive at an appointment 10 minutes early give her a buzz. You do call her on her birthday, right?
- Face time. The best remedy is spending time with your friend. If the friend lives in town, arrange a standing coffee or movie date. If the friend lives out of town, make an effort to visit each other once a year or so.
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A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow.
William Shakespeare
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Did you know that Moses had to make a third trip up to the top of Mount Sinai?
Well, on this third trip, Moses arrived at the burning bush after much climbing, removed his sandals, kneeled and prayed to God. “Oh mighty God, King of the Universe, your people have sent me back here to ask you a question about the Ten Commandments.”
“What question do they have for me?” roared the voice of God.
“They want to know whether the commandments are listed according to priority.”
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“It is by the goodness of God that we have in our country three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either.”
Mark Twain
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A man was seen fleeing down the hall of the hospital just before his operation. “What’s the matter?” he was asked.
He said, “I heard the nurse say, ‘It’s a very simple operation, don’t worry, I’m sure it will be all right.'” “She was just trying to comfort you, what’s so frightening about that?”
“She wasn’t talking to me. She was talking to the doctor!”
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Most people walk in and out of your life, but only friends leave footprints in your heart.
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The choir director selected the 6-year-old little boy with the sweetest face for the opening scene of the play. “Now, all you have to do is, when I direct the choir to sing ‘…and the angel lit the candle’, you come on stage and light all the candles.”
“I can do it – I can do it!” the little boy said, excited to be the one picked.
Rehearsals came and went, and finally the big night arrived. The choir was in grand voice, the stage was beautifully decorated with dozens of unlit candles all around, awaiting the moment when the cute littlest angel made his entrance.
The director gave the downbeat, the orchestra began to play, and the choir swept into the introductory lines, ending with an expectant “…and the angel lit the candle,” and everyone looked stage right for the entrance.
No little boy.
The director gave the downbeat again, and gestured for a louder line, which the choir gave him – “…and the angel lit the candle,” and again, all eyes looked stage right.
No little boy.
The director, beginning to sweat, motioned with great, sweeping gestures. The choir thundered into the line. The curtains belled slightly from the sound – “…AND THE ANGEL LIT THE CANDLE!”
And into the silence which followed came a clear, boy-soprano voice floating piercingly from stage right,
“…and the cat peed on the matches!”
~~~
Sadie and Esther are sitting on the porch of their Miami Beach hotel.
“Oh my God,” cries Sadie. “Look at that poor boy! Such a weak chin. His mouth is crooked. And look, his eyes are crossed.”
“That boy,” says Esther, “happens to be my son.”
“Oh,” replies Sadie. “On him it’s very becoming.”
~~~
A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
~~~
We were celebrating the 100th anniversary of our church, and several former pastors and the bishop were in attendance. At one point, our minister had the children gather at the altar for a talk about the importance of the day. He began by asking, “Does anyone know what the bishop does?”
There was silence. Finally, one little boy answered gravely, “He’s the one you can move diagonally.”
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Protons have mass?
I didn’t even know they were Catholic.
~~~
“Rabbi,” she says. “Both Abe and Sol are in love with me. Both want to marry me, and I have to pick…
Who will the lucky one be?”
The rabbi looked at her and replied, “Abe will marry you and Sol will be the lucky one.”
~~~
Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
Marcel Proust
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Ray Mitchell
Indianapolis, Indiana
Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.
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