Recipe For Happiness

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, 'How

Life As A Cake

A little boy is telling his Grandma how everything is going wrong — school, family problems, severe health problems, etc.

Meanwhile, Grandma is baking a cake. She asks the child if he would like a snack, which of course he does.

"Here. Have some cooking oil."

When a Friendship Falls Apart

Nothing prepares you for the day you realize a close friendship is over. Whether it's been suddenly destroyed by an act of betrayal or dies slowly of benign neglect, few life changes are as unforgettable and regrettable as learning that your main girl, whom you just knew you could count on, no longer has your back.

 FRIENDSHIPS GO BAD

I was 18 and a college freshman when Roni and I met. She was 28 and had a master's degree, but was in a career crisis. She no longer wanted to teach, which is how she wound up working at the same dive bar I did. We were different in many ways, not the least of which was that my family background was fractured. When we met, I'd just aged out of foster care.

THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL

IT was very, very cold; it snowed and it grew dark; it was the last evening of the year, New Year's Eve. In the cold and dark a poor littlegirl, with bare head and bare feet, was walking through the streets. When she left her own house she certainly had had slippers on; but what could they do?