The Michael Jordan anecdote: I am the same, sports make me squirm sometimes; I frequently feel that it’s too bad in a team sport, that the kicker (who doesn’t seem so much like the other guys, in fact sometimes he’s Australian!) has so much pressure on him. I had a relieving 4 years when our college had the best kicker in the nation, he missed like once … indifferent to college football, unlike the rest of the family, that was one of the only things I could have told you about the team.
Re Mr. Rogers, whom I adored as a child (so much so that I mostly resented the time devoted each episode to the puppet segment, Old World puppetry like that being pretty distant from an American childhood):
I called my close girlfriend yesterday to share medical news of a shared close friend. It was of course a distressing conversation but as if to relieve that, and in recognition of the situation, when we were hanging up she laughingly said, I love you! (Knowing I am never going to be the first mover at so saying; left to me the phrase would pass out of existence.)
I was like, oh no, is it like that? We are so old we must end conversations this way lest it’s the last?? Not yet, I I don’t want it to be that time yet! Let’s say, “I like you.”
She said, how about, I like you just the way you are?
I at once promised to write “I liked her just the way she was” on her Dignity memorial page someday. At least 20 years from now, I said firmly.
You will laugh, but your comment brought tears to my eyes. I hope your friend will be ok, and I think that “I like you” is a wonderful way to end conversations with our friends.
The Michael Jordan anecdote: I am the same, sports make me squirm sometimes; I frequently feel that it’s too bad in a team sport, that the kicker (who doesn’t seem so much like the other guys, in fact sometimes he’s Australian!) has so much pressure on him. I had a relieving 4 years when our college had the best kicker in the nation, he missed like once … indifferent to college football, unlike the rest of the family, that was one of the only things I could have told you about the team.
Re Mr. Rogers, whom I adored as a child (so much so that I mostly resented the time devoted each episode to the puppet segment, Old World puppetry like that being pretty distant from an American childhood):
I called my close girlfriend yesterday to share medical news of a shared close friend. It was of course a distressing conversation but as if to relieve that, and in recognition of the situation, when we were hanging up she laughingly said, I love you! (Knowing I am never going to be the first mover at so saying; left to me the phrase would pass out of existence.)
I was like, oh no, is it like that? We are so old we must end conversations this way lest it’s the last?? Not yet, I I don’t want it to be that time yet! Let’s say, “I like you.”
She said, how about, I like you just the way you are?
I at once promised to write “I liked her just the way she was” on her Dignity memorial page someday. At least 20 years from now, I said firmly.
And yes, definitely at least twenty years from now!
You will laugh, but your comment brought tears to my eyes. I hope your friend will be ok, and I think that “I like you” is a wonderful way to end conversations with our friends.