I must be getting old. Growing soft. Something like that. I remember one year I vowed to give up sarcasm for Lent and my family just howled at me. Because they knew that in making the vow – given who I am – I had already broken the vow. Ah well. I yam what I yam. So sue me.
In any case, as the year 2019 winds down to its inevitable close tonight, I offer you this heartwarming (yes, heartwarming!) article from vox.com. It’s called “The Best Money We’ve Ever Spent On Other People (Or That Other People Have Spent On Us).” They put this question to a bunch of young writers. And as you might expect, they got back a wide range of responses. Everything from a $12 houseplant that cemented a growing relationship, to an $850 family outing to the Burning Man Festival that reaffirmed longstanding ones. And an especially touching vignette where a daughter loans her cash-strapped mom her entire life savings to cover moving expenses in the elder’s twilight years. <Hey, to all you Millennials out there: No pressure.>
Regardless of your age or developmental stage, I defy any of you to read all the way through these 7 blog-sized entries without at least the hint of a tear in yer eye. Because even the most hard-bitten of us grows softer with time. And so, my sincere wish for each of us in the days ahead is this:
May 2020 be your kindest, softest year yet.