A family from Maine was visiting relatives in Georgia one summer.
The little boy from Maine was playing with his little girl
cousin. Since it was so hot, they stripped and waded in the creek
for a while. As they were sunning themselves afterward, the
little girl drawled, "ya know, ah never knew there was so much
difference between a Yankee and a  Southerner."
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My phone bill was past due and I need to change my service, so I
had to visit the local Bell of Pa. office. The line wasn't
clearly formed, and  there was an old man with a cane nearby me.
It was unclear as to who was next. 

When we got to the front of the line, the man gestured to me and
said, "After you." 
I smiled at him and said, "No, please, after you. I have all
day."

The he said, "No. You go ahead. My doctor says I have at least
six months." 
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The life of an only child with a single parent can be lonely at
times.

When my daughter was three, she often found herself wishing for
companionship on the weekends. During the week there were friends
to play with at nursery school, but on the weekends, it was just
the two of us, and a mommy isn't the same as another little
person.

The kids in our neighborhood were all too old to want to play
with a preschooler. Even a pet would have been fun to have
around, but we lived in an apartment, and she knew that pets
weren't allowed.

The landlord had said so.

So one Saturday evening as we sat on the steps of our apartment
enjoying the evening breeze, she pleaded, not for the first time,
"Mommy, why can't I have a baby brother or sister? I want
somebody to play with that can live with us all the time. Pleease
can you have a baby?"

"Well, honey," I answered slowly, casting about for a way to get
myself off the hook, "it's not up to just me." "Oh" she murmured,
then sat silently on the porch, face downcast, thinking hard for
a solution. I was wondering how to console her, when she suddenly
brightened and popped up, "I know, mommy! You can ask the
landlord. Maybe he'll say yes!"
___________________________________________________________
From Lloyd Smith, MD, during his address at the graduation
ceremony for the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

     "Then there was the man who was so imbued with science that
he sent two of his children to Sunday school and kept the other
two home as controls."