Hope you guys are having a good time. I’m certainly having a better time than I was having, say a month ago. It’s all thanks to some great people who are keeping me on my toes and pulling me out of the boredom that I was getting sucked into. Let me tell ya about the source of my new positive energy…

I don’t know if you folks have ever tried to answer questions from kids. I have mixed experiences of my efforts to answer a few questions of children like Rachael, Ethan and Emily. They want to know the details of everything and that, I can vouch, is not easy always. They can do so much with just one question, “Why?” I was having a quiet cookie and coffee in my office when Ethan and Emily walked in. Somehow they had formed this idea that I have the answers to all their queries. I’ve been accepted in their “circle of trust” since Donna’s birthday surprise. I have been subjected to so many intellectually-probing questions in the past by them, I recognize their expression when they walk in with a question on their minds.

I braced myself for the worst. It was Emily who began. Let me add, I have noted that it is Emily who is more confident and she’s the one who always asks the first question. I don’t know why it is so, but so it is. “What’s Yom Kippur?” she asked with one eye brow turned up. Sometimes I think they already know, and they’re just quizzing me. I thought for a moment and then cleared my throat, “Well Yom Kippur is one of the most important Jewish festivals. They pray and fast during Yom Kippur while people of the Jewish faith “say sorry” for their sins to God.” I thought she’d ask the details of Yom Kippur as well, but before she could do that, Ethan cuts in. “And what about Sukkot?”

So they have come in prepared! “Sukkot is…” I said in a explanatory tone, trying not to show my nervousness. I felt like I was sweating out a confession, “a Biblical pilgrimage festival that happens in the middle of the month of October.” Ethan opened his mouth again, “Can you…” Suddenly Donna walked in. “Let Bob have his coffee in peace, we can’t have him without caffeine. You guys come in and finish your homework, too.” Phew, I was saved by the mom! She gave a pat on each of their bums as they were walking away back to her office, then turned to me, “Sorry Bob, they bother you a lot, don’t they?” I was quick to reply, “No Donna, they’re great. Thanks to them, nowadays I do a lot of research for myself!” This was true. Folks, sometimes you learn a lot more just by listening to the questions kids ask. I know hanging out with these kids gives me a whole new perspective about things around the world.

There’s more on the “new beginnings” front. Seth and Megan met during Rosh Hashanah for a private dinner with Seth’s parents. Megan called me the day after and told me all about it. Having the dinner during the festival made it really significant. Megan said, “No one really talked about the aspects of renewal, rebirth, and the whole technicalities but it had an undertone to it, ya know?” Seth urged Megan privately to forget the past and start over again. Megan was cool with it. I really didn’t know what to say, I didn’t want to remind her about the big fight she had with Seth. I mean they’re both friends to me, and Seth had done a lot of good things for Kong.

The dinner went off really well. Seth’s parents were very glad to have Megan with them. They made sure she was comfortable. They also saw to it that she had enough space to talk to Seth without being interrupted. The food, Megan told me, was excellent. Seth’s dad was particularly charming and told Megan many anecdotes about his young days and how he fell in love with Seth’s mother. He talked about romance in his days and romance as it is now. Megan was amused and happy to hear him talk, with inputs from his Lady Love, Seth’s mom. Megan told me, “You should meet them Bob. They are so much in love, even after all these years.” I guess she has found a new reason to believe in love after the horrific experiences she has been having lately. The story about Seth’s parents is heart-warming, isn’t it? Here’s to the old couple.

Did you know that our neighbors up north have Thanksgiving way earlier than us folks in the U. S. of A? Rachael learned about the Canadian Thanksgiving from her friend and she was concerned about her Thanksgiving dinner that’s coming up. After all, she’s a vegetarian now, so she was a little upset that she’ll be missing her favorite Thanksgiving dishes. She’s only a kid after all! She has her doubts about her resolve too, especially when there are mouth-watering non-vegetarian dishes around. But I told her that it’s normal to want things of the past or things that you can’t have. What’s extraordinary is that she doesn’t give in, she said, “Uncle Bob, I decided to be a vegetarian and I’m going to stick to that even if it means giving up having turkey for Thanksgiving,” I was really proud of her and I told her, “Good for you Rachael, Thanksgiving isn’t about turkey anyway, it’s about all those other things that we want to be grateful for,” she gave me a big smile and nodded with confidence.

For this year, she asked me what she could have for the Thanksgiving dinner. She knew that her Thanksgiving dinners won’t be the same anymore, what with her resolve to remain vegetarian. I didn’t have enough ideas to suggest her a vegetarian meal that is worthy of the occasion and will live up to her expectations as well. So we thought of using the Internet to help our quest for vegetarian Thanksgiving dishes. There’s a lot of vegetarian dishes out there but she couldn’t decide on what she wanted so our search is still on. If you know of any vegetarian dish that she can have for Thanksgiving, send it in to my email! It’s bob@123greetings.com Rachael will be really happy to see you guys come up to help her out of this culinary crisis.

I’m having a gala time, thanks to Berka and her quote-a-minute humor. Taking a cue from Rachael, I decided to ‘officially’ thank her for cheering me up whenever my face looked as if I gulped a doze of really sour jawbreakers. So without wasting much time, I decided to take her out for a fancy dinner. I called her up and asked her if she’d like to have dinner with me, I told her that I managed to get a reservation at the hottest restaurant in town (and no, not the one I went to on my disaster, accidental double-date with Leo, Megan and ‘What’s her name’). Her time that evening was already given to a work meeting, but she postponed it. I think she understood that I was really looking forward to the evening.

She turned up in a simple black dress but her smile on seeing me in the lobby was more radiant than all the chandeliers combined. The host showed us our table. I wanted to make the evening memorable for both of us. To that effect, I had made all the arrangements. The waiters didn’t disappoint me. The wine was of the perfect temperature and taste, the food was excellent. Most importantly, she was happy and thanked me for the evening. I replied that it is her I should thank, for all the support and the humorous lines which kept me going even when I was neck-deep in work. Her “You’re welcome!” will always remain etched in my mind.

The restaurant was becoming progressively vacant. That is when we realized it was getting late. I dropped her home and went back to my pad, thinking all along how a person who was a stranger the other day could make me so happy in so less time. I’m sure you know some people who have a similar effect on you. Why don’t you share it with us?

This week’s Zen quote comes from Oprah Winfrey, who made this wonderful statement: “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” It sums up the essence of saying ‘thank you’ most poignantly… what say?