HAPPY MUSINGS

Happy Musings is a newspaper feature syndicated by King Features that I create each day to remind us all that “Life is wonderful!” I offer it here to brighten your day. Please share it with your friends.

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Dennis came to work for our company 20 years ago. It didn't matter what he was asked to do, he figured out how to do it and do it well. But one of the best things that Dennis figured out how to do was make friends. Everyone who worked for us loved Dennis. The suppliers loved Dennis. The customers loved Dennis. UPS and Mail Clerks loved Dennis. There was not a place where Dennis went that he didn't leave a trail of friends.

There was another interesting thing about Dennis. He had a key ring filled with keys. He was in charge of a lot of things, but there were more keys than there were things to be in charge of. The keys hung on Dennis' belt and made their presence known as Dennis walked about.

There always seemed to me to be a correlation between the many keys and the many friends. I thought perhaps that Dennis had many answers, therefore many keys to creating friends. Maybe it was just one key – Dennis, who knew that being a friend first guaranteed that the other person in the equation was automatically captured. In this way they became a part of his inner key ring – the one around his heart.

Dennis has moved on to his own endeavors, but we are still attached with hardly a beat skipped, even though we may not speak with each other for months at a time. Dennis is one of the wealthiest people I know. And he makes me wealthier myself for having him as a friend.

12/22/08 (Friendship)

Count Your Friends, Count Your Assets
"Your friends are your assets. Guard them well."
Friends are assets whose values are unknown. But they are assets for sure. I remember reading a story of a man of great wealth who lost everything he had in the great depression of 1939. At the moment the market crashed and he realized all his money was gone he remembered he had friends – and he had an idea.

Horseracing had become legal again in America and he wanted to build the finest racing establishment in the country. He no longer had financial assets, so no banks would loan him money. Instead, he took his idea and began knocking on friends' doors. Many were not interested, but a few were, including the famous crooner Bing Crosby and the owner of one of the top racing stables, William Howard. Monies were gathered. Ranch land was purchased near the San Gabriel Mountains in California . And the magnificent Santa Anita Racetrack was created. It has been one of the primer racetracks for over 60 years and enjoyed by millions of people during that time. It came into being because a man with an idea had as his only assets, friends.

12/17/08 (Friendship)



Friends are Gold
Golden Times are those spent wiith golden friends
When I look back over the years and think of the best times I have ever had, they are always times spent with golden friends. These are those friends who have weathered the test of time, who are there rain or shine, win or loose, rich or poor.

They are the ones who make a day.

I just heard from one of those friends today. Martha called from Laguna Beach to say how much she enjoyed my Happy Musings feature that runs in the Orange County Register. I haven't spoken to Martha in quite awhile, but as I think back over our times together she is indeed a golden friend. We are both moving along in years now, but in the past we had some very happy times together. She used her talents and connections as an interior designer to furnish an apartment for me. I gave her my favorite silk kimono when she married tennis legend Gene Mako. I found her a home to house sit, during a very hot summer in the Palm Desert area of California when she wanted to explore the possibility of moving there. And she kept me company that summer while my husband suffered the trials of cancer treatment. There was no one I would rather have been around during that period than Martha because no one I know has a cheerier disposition.

Friendships are definitely based on give and take. Golden ones are those whose exchanges are heartfelt. Martha is high on my list of golden friends. Golden friends do make golden times.

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