Hey, kiddo

When I was younger, I was friends with a cook in our little Creole village, name Miss Patricia. We would pass each other during the day and stop and chat for a few minutes, just to make each other laugh.

One day, I was strung tight because my friends were putting me through the wringer. I complained to her about it saying, “I like them, but I don’t like the way they treat me. What do I do? How can I forgive them?”

She looked at me straight, smoothly lifted her right hand in the air and, curling her fingers around a rope suspended from heaven, declared: “Love ’em from a distance”.  Then she popped the rope down, ranging her bell: “Love ’em from a distance”.

That clear, quick answer stopped me: This woman had bought that wisdom with a coin of hard experience. She knew of what she spoke.

Those friends are not in my life anymore, but I never forgot her words. It is possible, it is an answer, and I still do, to this day: “Love ’em from a distance”. You can, too.

Coraggio! Avanti! Life is too good to waste!