...that spending a morning helping my mom clean up her extensive gardens, pulling weeds and trimming back overgrowth, and then organizing the garage as my dad sits in his chair supervising his need for order in one of his few places left is worth more than most things I do on any other given day. My mom singing nonsense songs in her pleasure at her garden and my dad’s satisfied grin as the garage comes together is gold.

...that life is an ongoing path filled with expectations and disappointments that ultimately ends in either tragedy or decay so the few who step up in defiance of it and live lives of optimism and art are my heroes.

...that one piece of salted caramel is just as good as ten. It is uniquely American to consume the whole ten in one shot.

...that arguing without the hope of mutual resolution is the dirty politics of personal demagoguery. Best to simply shut up and let those unable to either persuade or be persuaded vent their rigid ideology and move on.

...that fighting the battles of yesterday without recognizing the progress overnight intentionally prolongs the concept of the permanent state of war.