Susan Beckett

Warnings! We live with them every day of our lives. For small children it’s, “No! Don’t touch.” Several years into life it’s, “Don’t run with scissors.” We then move on to “Don’t play on the freeway,” and as teens it’s, “Don’t fill your gray matter with drugs,” etc. - the list gets pretty long in dealings with that particular group!! As adults it’s more serious with relationships, jobs, finances, and ??? Yet another long list.

A man saw a small boy drawing a picture and asked him, "What are you drawing?" "A picture of God," he replied. The man told the boy that no one knows what God looks like, to which the boy confidently responded, "They will when I get done!"

I just finished checking out the political cartoon in the Chronicle’s “Politics” section this last week. It pictures two children with measles asking their mom to remind them why they didn’t get the measles shot. Her reply: “They’re bad for you. I read that somewhere on Facebook.”

Many years ago, I read an article about a local guy who appraised marbles - of all things! It sounds strange, but it was a fascinating piece about agates, cats-eyes, and clay marbles. My father had a large marble collection as a young boy growing up in the 30s, which he held onto. When I was about ten years old, part of his collection was given to me.

Wayyy back in my high school days, we were required to take Spanish. I have to admit being bilingual was apparently not my thing, but this I do remember; whenever our class was getting too loud for our teacher, she would yell out, “Escutcheon por favor! Escuchen!” Translated - listen please. Listen. It seems to be my one big takeaway from two years of Spanish. I even used that line on my own children when they were young.