By Kieran Lin Rich – KRich13@bellsouth.net

I learned something new this week….April and May are the top months for tornado touch-downs in the state of Tennessee.  I tend to believe the statistic to be correct.  In the last week, we’ve had two tornado warnings (With grave forecasts of another today.)  and enough lightning to make the cats all fuzzy.

Tornadoes scare me.  They always have.  If I were to get all psychological on you, I could pretty much boil it down to anything that I can’t control scares me…tornadoes, fires, death of someone I love, floods, terrorist attacks…well, you get the idea.

So in the midst of an afternoon tornado warning last week, I hunkered down in the master bathroom with two cats.  The third cat was invited to the party but chose not to attend — making her R.S.V.P regrets clear by hiding behind Jeff’s desk and hissing at me when I tried to bring her downstairs.

I’d done what I could do to prepare for the bad weather.  All that was left was just waiting for whatever was going to happen…to happen.  As I thought about Jeff being 15 miles away at work — in an area that was reportedly getting the brunt of the storms — my brain immediately kicked into “Worst Case Scenario” mode and in a matter a few short minutes, I managed to scare myself silly.

After I realized I was catching fear from myself, I tried to re-focus my brain.  I thought about my grocery list, the chores that were still undone, and what further steps needed to be taken to get supper on the table.  And yet, my mind’s eye constantly saw funnel clouds dancing on the horizon…lots and lots of funnel clouds.

That was when I began to talk to myself.  “What do I know?”  I asked myself out loud.  And then a strange thing happened.  Like a printer belching out a monthly report, my brain began rattling off the choice tid-bits of information that it has stored over the years.  And I do use the term “choice” very loosely.

Here is a sampling of the useless information that resides in my head:

1. The microwave oven was invented as an accidental by-product of World War II radar research using magnetrons — vacuum tubes that produce microwave radiation.
2. Orange M&Ms were introduced 1976.
3. Atlanta’s Fabulous Fox Theater got air-conditioning before the White House did.
4. Barbara Millicent Roberts A.K.A “Barbie” is from the town of Willows, Wisconsin.  
5. President Eisenhower named of the official Presidental retreat after his grandson, turning ”Shangri-La” into “Camp David”.
6. The NFL franchise the Tennessee Titans began life in 1960 as the Houston Oilers.
7. Legos got their name from combining the first two letters of Danish words “leg” and “godt” — Translation?  “Play well.”
8. Waffle House serves more than 3.2 million pounds of grits each year.  ( Author’s note:  However, the big question remains…WHY does ANYONE voluntarily eat grits?)
9. The largest body of fresh water in the world is Lake Superior.
10. Disney’s “It’s a Small World” ride actually debuted at the 1964-1965 World’s Fair in New York.  It was a benefit for UNICEF.
11. Calvin Coolidge was sworn into office by his dad — a notary public.
12. Coca-Cola was invented in 1886 by Atlanta, Georgia pharmacist John Pemberton.   Between 1888 and 1891,  a guy named Asa Candler secured rights to the business for a little over $2,000.
13. Tennessee became the 16th state on June 1, 1796.
14. President Lincoln owned only one home during his lifetime.  It was in Springfield, Illinois.
15. Lou Gehring hit a grand-slam homer at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.  This may not seem like a big deal but the year was 1920 and Lou was still in high school.
16. Charlie Brown’s beagle Snoopy had four brothers:  Marbles, Spike, Olaf, and Andy.  He also had one sister named Belle.
17. In Paraguay, dueling is completely legal as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
18. The first Piggly-Wiggly grocery store opened in Memphis, Tennessee in 1916.
19. Amy Carter, youngest child of President Jimmy Carter, had a Siamese cat named Misty Malarky Ying Yang.
20. The first Wienermobile debuted in 1936 at the cost of $5000.00.
21. In the game of Clue, the victim’s name is Mr. Boddy.
22. The series M*A*S*H was comprised of 251 episodes.
23. In 1955, Sears & Roebuck printed an ad in a Colorado Springs newspaper giving children a phone number to call to track Santa’s flight on Christmas Eve.  However, the phone number that was printed was one digit off — giving kids the number to NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command.)  Thankfully, the Colonel who answered the phone caught on quickly and not wanting to disappoint the kids, he played along.  NORAD has been tracking Santa’s journey on Christmas Eve ever since.  
24. Maine is the only U.S state with a name of one syllable.
25. “Idlewild” was the original name for John F. Kennedy International airport.
26. The publisher of “Cat in the Hat” made a bet with Dr. Seuss.  The publisher didn’t think Seuss could write a coherant story with a vocabulary of only 50 words.  The result of the bet?  The book “Green Eggs & Ham.”
27. The Titanic was build in Belfast, Northern Ireland at the Harland and Wolff shipyards.
28. The ends of shoelaces are called “aglets”.
29. Colorado won the bid to host the 1976 Winter Olympics.  They made history when they turned down the offer becoming the first and only state to refuse to host the Games.
30. Thomas Edison had 1093 U.S. patents.
31. The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade was in 1924. 
32. Tennessee is ranks behind only Virginia in the number of Civil War battles fought within its borders.
33. Gatorade was invented at the University of Florida.  Go Gators!
34. Marie Curie was the first female to win a Nobel Prize.
35. Winnie the Pooh is a boy bear.

You may be wondering at this point why I store all of this garbage.  Quite frankly, I’m wondering the same thing.  I do not know why my brain functions the way it does.  I do know that if you spin peanut M&Ms, they stand upright; and, yet I cannot remember to buy bananas at the grocery store.  Go figure!  Outside of being able to absolutely rock at “Trivial Pursuit”, I see little advantage to having a brain crammed with factoids. 

But as I hid from the tornadoes, my rambling mental list finally slowed down to a trickle, my mind quieted, and I closed my eyes.  As if he were standing there with me in the bathroom, I heard Jeff’s voice as clear as day…”Do you know that I love you?”  Only in my mind, I didn’t picture Jeff at all.  Instead I saw the face I saw was that of Jesus.

He loves me — enough to die for me that I might have eternal life.  In the midst of my crisis of fear last week, I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I didn’t I think of that in my list of stuff that I know.  My brain was so full of useless facts that it crowded out the one thought that really matters…

Jesus loves me…this I know.

By Kieran Lin Rich – KRich13@bellsouth.net

Note:  This blog has been kicking around in my draft file for several months now as its subject is something I truly struggle with and am not exactly comfortable writing about.  Every time I’ve written on this file, I kept asking myself, “Do I really want to put all of these raw thoughts and feelings on the world-wide web?  The answer was invariably “no” so I would just save the file and allow it to get lost in the depths of my draft folder for a few more months before the process would start all over again.  However, since February’s default theme seems to be living courageously, I decided that maybe it was time to have the courage to finish this blog.  And away we go…

Planning a wedding can be overwhelming and just flat-out stressful at times.  There are so many decisions to make, so many plates to keep spinning, so many opinions and ideas to incorporate — no wonder a large number of brides cry on their wedding day.  For the record, I did not cry on my wedding day.  Jeff graciously handled that little responsibility for our family. 

People use all sorts of tricks to simplify and de-stress the nuptial planning process.  For instance, I have a friend who has already started to plan her daughter’s wedding — even though the identity of the groom is still completely unknown to everyone but God.  Gotta love that pre-planning!

Another trick that is often used is choosing a quote or a saying as a kind of a ready-made wedding theme.  I have to admit that Jeff and I were seriously lacking in the pre-planning department.  The process of putting our wedding together felt an awful lot like a stint on “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride”; but, when it came to choosing a quote?  We jumped all over that one.

However, our quote was a little different as it did not come from the Bible.  It did not come from Plato or Gandhi or Socrates or even Shakespeare.  Our quote came from what many may see as an unlikely source.  Dr. Seuss.

As our wedding day approached and I was grasping to find a way to sum up my feelings about our impending marriage, the good doctor once again gave voice to exactly what I was feeling when he said this:

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”

As a little girl, I used to lay in bed at night and plan my perfect wedding right down to the final detail.  I would pick the dress, the wedding party, the venue, the flowers, and the music.  Why, I would even piece together the perfect groom!  In case you’re wondering, the groom usually looked a lot like  G.I. Joe.  I didn’t want to make Barbie jealous by marrying Ken!  My groom had the humor of Alan Alda, the charm of Christopher Plummer, and the money of an Egyptian king.  What do you expect?  Pulling off my perfect wedding was going to take some serious cash!  With all the details in place,  I would fall asleep and have beautiful dreams of my wedding in vivid technicolor.

The trouble with dreams though is that you have to wake up to reality and reality was always such a rude shock.  Why do I have to take a spelling test?  Spelling is totally underrated anyway.  What do you mean my brother is trying to clobber me again?  Tell me something I didn’t know.  Baseball practice?  Please!  Who has the time?  I have a wedding to plan here!  There were many, many days that I would find myself counting the minutes until I could once again enter the delightful world of my dreams.

And now, in all those days between then and now, reality has become better than my dreams.  Most of the time I still go to sleep feeling like I’m living a fantasy — like I have stepped into someone else’s life because incredibly good stuff, like a wonderful marriage to an amazing man, just doesn’t happen to me.

No, it hasn’t been all bliss.  There have been days when I didn’t like Jeff much and I know he’s felt the same about me.  We fight about stupid things and manage to hurt each other without ever trying.  But “like” and “love” are two very different things.  And it’s that deep, rich, enduring love that  has me reaching for Jeff in the middle of the night to make sure he’s really there and not just some imaginary friend I’ve conjured up after going to sleep with a full stomach.

My 6 faithful readers, as well as any guests who may have accidentally stumbled across this blog, are probably gagging uncontrollably by now.  But I really mean it.  I’m completely, totally, inexplicably in love with Jeff.   He is the man God created for me to be with.  He is my other half.  He is the one who completes me.  I know all these things without a doubt.  My marriage has been the single biggest blessing of a life that has, at times, been very difficult.

So what’s the problem?  Why am I writing a blog entry entitled “To live with fear?”   Well it’s because I’m so darn happy, of course! 

Let me try to explain…

I live in fear because I don’t want my life with Jeff to ever end.   I got married late and there is quite an age difference between Jeff and me.  The movie we watched for our date night this week had a scene where a middle-aged woman held her older, frail husband as he struggled through the last days of his life.  Jeff made the light-hearted comment of “That’s us in 20 years.”

But his comment made my brain explode in an internal tirade that mostly consisted of the word, “No!”  I don’t want 2 years or 20 years.  I want 200 years.  I want 2000 lifetimes.  I want forever.

And I am afraid.

Afraid of Jeff being taken from me.  Afraid that the wonder of our marriage will be stripped from my grasp.  Afraid that the happiness we have found together will simply evaporate.  Afraid that I will wake up one morning and he will be gone.  I am afraid.

So what happens when fear controls my life — or even a portion of it?  Joy receeds.  I step back from God.  Satan steps in.

That’s where I am right now.  Fear is keeping me from truly enjoying my marriage and my husband.  Fear is allowing satan to get a foothold in my life.  Fear has grown from a grain of sand to a pebble to a rock to a boulder to a mountain between God and me. 

I do believe in eternity and I know, without a doubt, where I’m going when I die.  I also know that I will see Jeff there but again, fear grips me because in my feeble, human mind, I cannot grasp what heaven will be like.  I cannot wrap my brain around the thought that eventually I will get to spend forever with the man I love in the presence of God who breathed life into us.  I can’t imagine what it will be like to see Jesus — the One who willingly suffered and died so that I might live forever — in spite of all of the evil things I’ve done in my time on earth.  I cannot fathom any of this so I fear it instead.

I am finally beginning to understand, as dense as I can be sometimes, that the opposite of fear is faith.  Faith is knowing that if Jeff dies today or tomorrow or 60 years from now, that God will sustain me.  Faith is understanding that God wants only His very best for me and if I get out of the way and allow Him to work, He’ll give it to me.  Faith is deciding to step out from under the shroud of fear and truly begin to enjoy whatever time we have.

So today, I will reach back toward God and allow Him to remove the mountain of fear that has come between us.  I will live courageously and rely on God for my every need and I will continue to love Him above all else.

Even if my earthly life with Jeff ends tomorrow, today it feels great to be alive and to be here with him, enjoying the gift of the precious present.  Whatever tomorrow or the next day or the day after that brings, my world will not end.  So today, right now on this beautiful, amazing, almost spring-like day, I’m going to go enjoy the company and laughter and touch of my husband and I’m going to love every minute of it without fear that it will end.  Today, I will live with courage and faith and comfort in knowing that this is the way God intended life to be lived.

But because of His love and providence and the amazing gift of this life that God has given me to live,  reality is finally better than my dreams.   And I am so incredibly thankful.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

By Kiera Rich – KRich13@bellsouth.net

Two weeks ago, I came up with what I thought was a really clever idea.  “I’ll write a two part blog.  A before view and an after view.  A beginning and an end.”  In case you missed the first part, here is a link.  A two part, two perspective blog sounds like a great plan, doesn’t it? 

In a perfect world, yes.  In my world?  Not so much.  We’ve been waiting for news that was supposed to come approximately 2 days after my blog of August 10th.   For those of you keeping score at home, it’s August 25th and we have no news.  Yet.

I don’t know if no news is good news or no news is bad news.  Or if news is just news and it doesn’t really matter.  I don’t know whether to dance or cry.  I am completely at a loss.  For someone who navigates life with charts, graphs, and lists — this is pure torture.

Several years ago, I flew from Denver, Colorado to Lincoln, Nebraska.  The flight was uneventful until we got to Lincoln.  There was a storm and we couldn’t land.  We circled Lincoln for longer than it took to fly there in the first place.  We circled Lincoln for longer than it would have taken to fly to New Jersey.  It drove me completely insane.

“If we had landed on time, I could have my luggage by now.”  “If we had landed on time, I could have found my car by now.”  “If we had landed on time, I could have already been home and in my jammies.”  These thoughts kept running through my head but it did no good.  Jammies or no, the pilot would not land that plane until it was safe to do so.

In his book, “Oh the Places You’ll Go”, Dr. Seuss talks about “The Waiting Place”.  He describes it as an essentially useless place where people wait for something that may or may not happen.  I don’t want to believe it or even consider it, but Jeff and I may be smack in the middle of that waiting place. 

Although I hate being in this holding pattern that is currently my life, I keep reminding myself of circling Lincoln until the cows had no choice but to come home.  When the time is right and it is safe to do so, I trust that God will land our plane.  He will close this chapter in our lives and open a new one.  Unfortunately, His timing seems to include crazed circling and a mind-numbing wait to which I can see no point.

But perhaps that IS the point.  God is in control here.  Not me.  His timing is perfect.  Mine falls woefully short.  Maybe the waiting wouldn’t be so useless if I would use this time to draw closer to Him.  And perhaps that is what He intended all along — for me to not waste this time caught somewhere between the now and the not yet.

By Kiera Rich – KRich13@bellsouth.net

Saturdays at the Rich house are generally pretty quiet.  We try really hard to not do much.  Our main goals yesterday were getting the sheets changed on the bed and eating something for supper that was not ordered at a drive-thru.  I am happy to report that both objectives were achieved.

We do have a few treasured Saturday traditions.  One of our favorites is to head to our local Barnes & Noble.  This is a tradition that we do together.  At least in theory; but in practice?  Not so much.  Once inside the door, we split up.  Jeff sprints for the Sci-Fi section as I begin my own dizzying tour through the store — hitting nearly every section except for Sci-Fi.  I don’t know what it is about bookstores.  They transform me into something that looks like a hummingbird with A.D.D.  There is just so much to take in…so much to look at…so many books, so little time…gotta go over here…or was it over here?

I LOVE books — all except for the Sci-fi ones.  I’ve never been able to read more than a few pages of any of Jeff’s books.  The writing is not bad, it’s just not interesting to me.  But they capture Jeff’s attention enough to make him want to stay up all night and read on occasion.

Movies are another area where we are essentially incompatible.  “Aliens and explosions” are the main characteristics of Jeff’s favorites.  For me to love a movie, I need a good storyline, witty dialog, believable characters, and popcorn with extra butter.

Shortly after I moved to Atlanta, Jeff took me on a date that included one of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.  I did enjoy parts of the movie; but, it will never be a favorite.  And after seeing it, I have one suggestion for Disney.  If you’re going to scare the pants off of me with your movie, please do not show me a happy little Mickey Mouse logo at the end!  Mickey is for fun movies with rainbows and singing woodland critters – not explosions and hideous characters with tentacles growing on their face.  So in the future, if the movie is scary, DO NOT show me that mouse at the end! 

Music is another area where Jeff and I don’t exactly see eye to eye.  We’re still in the process of discovering music that we both enjoy.  Jeff is a Rush guy from way back.  I think we own every CD and concert DVD they’ve ever done and I have to admit, they are extremely talented musicians and their lyrics are profound and thought-provoking.  In fact, I would probably love Rush if they stuck to just playing music and nobody ever sang.

To be fair, I’m sure Jeff would have equally harsh critiques about my music, my movies, and my books.  However, this is my blog so he’s not going to get equal time.  It’s good to be queen! 

While our differences do make for occasionally difficult dates, I am thankful for them.  It would be a lot easier if we loved the same movies.  Jeff could sniffle through my tear-jerkers with me and I could applaud his exploding aliens.  We would listen to Rush every time we got in the car and fight to see who got first read of my latest presidential biography.

But we’re not the same.  Thank you, God!  In sameness, there is no growth.  In sameness, there is no learning to compromise and no learning to get along.  I am extremely thankful for our differences because they have forced me to become someone different than I once was.  Our differences have forced me to grow.

I was reminded of the joy of differences this week as I had the opportunity to talk about ministry with a Children’s director at a local church.  She talked about the process she goes through to place a volunteer in an area of ministry.  As she described all the people who come together each Sunday to create a meaningful worship and teaching time for the kids at her church, I was enthralled and amazed.  Isn’t it just like God to create a world where every one’s gifts are needed and every one’s circumstances are valued?

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to teach Sunday school with a wonderful lady.  When we started teaching together, I didn’t know her at all.  But now, she is one of my best friends.  We had a beautiful partnership in our Sunday school class.  I did all the work and she showed up.  That was HER description.  Not mine!  But essentially, her assessment was true.  I did do the prep work.  I did teach the class.  And she did show up.  Every week. 

Our lives were very different.  At the time, I was single and had a lot of time on my hands.  She had two active and involved teenagers.  My Saturdays were spent cutting out 30 little Jesus puppets.  Her Saturdays were spent running between show-choir and soccer and music recitals.  It would have been easy for her to pull back and say, “I’ll just wait to serve God until my kids are out of the house.”  But she didn’t.

Instead, she did what she could and became an adult that I could count on in my classroom.  Another adult to listen to our Sunday school kids and to pray for sick pets and school problems.  She was another adult to give special attention when it was needed and a stern “Mom” look when the kids got squirrelier than normal.  She was another adult that I could ask to complete some weird task at the last minute and know that it would be done.  On time.  Every time.

Her loyalty and dedication allowed me to dream and to occassionally dare to try something different.  Her committment to me and to our class gave me the courage to fail.  She became a trusted friend who gave me feedback and talked me down when I was frustrated.  We laughed together and she became someone with whom I could share my heart.

Each week she served the kids and she served me.  We became a team and together, we taught a bunch of kids about Jesus.  I don’t know that I am more proud of anything else I’ve done; and yet, there is no way I could have done even a portion of what I did without her.  I’m so thankful for our differences and the way God put us together so we could serve Him in the most effective way.

Although she thinks she just “showed up”, this simply is not true.  She supported and encouraged and lovingly touched and shaped lives.  Every week.  Because of this friend, I’m a better person, a closer follower of Jesus, and more focused and sure of my ministry than I’ve ever been before.  She mentored me beautifully but with the purity of my never knowing what she was doing.  Sounds like a lot more than just “showing up”, doesn’t it?

Yes, there are times when Jeff’s movie choices annoy me.  There are rare times when all I want to do is go to bed together; but, he’s so into finishing his book that he’s not aware of anything else.  There are times when I forget to be thankful for the different people God created us to be and the marriage He formed by bringing us together.  

Like my Sunday school friend, Jeff tends to believe that his contribution to my life is just “showing up.”  But he does so much more.  For example, several years ago I wrote some Sunday school curriculum that required some cooking and craft projects that I had never done before.  This made me nervous and I felt it absolutely necessary to try out everything before I handed the curriculum over.  However, because I am a master at both procrastination and biting off more than I can chew, I was running out of time and my curriculum deadline was looming.

It would have been easy for Jeff to get frustrated with me because of my lack of pre-planning and seeming inability to say, “no”.  But what he did instead was join me in what I was attempting to do for God.  He became my test kitchen and my research lab.  Via long distance, he made my recipes and tried out my projects, reporting back to me about what worked and what did not.  He became an invaluable member of my team and I couldn’t have done what I did without him. 

As I go through my week, my goal is to remember writing this blog and to be a little more thankful and a lot less judgemental of the differences in this world.  God created people, with all their likes and dislikes and personality quirks, for a reason.  And it wasn’t just to annoy me!  Whether we all play nice and get along or not is our issue – not God’s. 

And for those of you who were wondering, the last time we left Barnes and Noble, Jeff’s bag contained two Sci-fi books and a bargain table book on the life of Judas.  What was in my bag?  “Horton Hears a Who”, that’s what!

By Kiera Rich – KRich13@bellsouth.net

Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in a “Read Across America” celebration at a local elementary school.   The celebration had a Dr. Seuss theme, so of course I had to be involved.  Our instructions were to come prepared to read our favorite Dr. Seuss story.   As I was driving to the school, I was a little nervous.  Although my story was thoroughly prepared — even nearly memorized, I still didn’t know what to expect. 

It was a carnival-like atmosphere.  Every adult in the school was wearing a Dr. Seuss/”Cat in the Hat” hat — even the community’s policemen who came to read wearing their bullet-proof vests and holstered guns.  There were three or four young adults from a semi-pro soccer team.  There were retired teachers  and veterans and moms and dads.  It was amazing to see such a diverse group of people; but, what I loved the most was this feeling in the air that although we came from different backgrounds and professions, we were all there to do something for the greater good.

I had a blast.  I got my very own Dr. Seuss hat and loved seeing the excitement in the kids eyes as they enthusiastically devoured every word of “What Was I Scared Of?”  and “Too Many Daves.”  I went home feeling like I had spent a few hours making an extremely wise investment in the future.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed reading to the kids, the best part was after the story when I asked them if they thought Dr. Seuss was trying to teach us a lesson through the words and spooky pictures of “What Was I Scared Of?”  The kids picked up a wide variety of lessons through the story.  “Don’t pick snide at night.”  “Take an adult fishing with you.” ”Grinich Spinach is bad for you.”  My favorite lesson though was offered by a shy little boy in a striped shirt.  “It’s good to have friends who are different than you are,” he whispered. 

Although I wanted to cheer when the little boy said those words, I was also sad.  As a second grader, he understood the greater meaning of the story, but I had to wonder if he would feel the same way in five years.  I hope he will.  I hope by then the shy little boy won’t have been herded together with a lot of other boys who are just like he is.  I hope that in five years or ten or fifteen, the little boy in the striped shirt will have a friend who is different.

This week I also had the opportunity to meet with my Bible study friend and go through more of the book “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller.  This week’s chapter wasn’t one of those that had me tossing and turning half the night feeling alternately like an insightful genius and a bumbling idiot.  It was actually pretty straight-forward; but, even in its simplicity the message was a bit haunting and made me more than a bit uncomfortable.

It asked if Christians are prejudiced people.  Before you jump to defend yourself, think about it.  How comfortable are you around people who are different from you?  Would you rather your kids hang out with their church friends or some kids from school that don’t have a faith-based family?  Given the opportunity, would you rather have a discussion about spiritual things with a Christian or non-Christian friend?  What choices and decisions do you make on a daily basis that serve to isolate you from the world?   Do you spend your life planted firmly in your safe little holy-huddle?

I’ve been extremely guilty of the “holy-huddle” syndrome in the past.  There have been times when my life has been totally consumed with church involvement and this is the time of the year when it would happen.  I would spend hours and hours and even entire days at church preparing for our annual Easter drama.  It was a nerve-wracking time.  I would get exhausted and stressed out to the point of breaking but I just kept telling myself it was worth it.  It was an outreach for our church.  The whole community was invited.  We occasionally had non-Christians in the cast but not very often.  Usually, it was the same old group of my committed, Christian friends.  Looking back now, I have to wonder…who were we really ministering to? 

We always did comment cards in the program — asking people what they thought of the show and what we could do to improve.  I wish now that I had followed up with some of those people.  I wish I would have gotten to know even one of them and had the courage to have a friend who was different than me.  I wish I would have learned the lesson Dr. Seuss taught all those years ago.  “It’s good to have friends who are different than you are.”