Favorite Sweatshirt

You know when you have something you like - a favorite sweatshirt or pair of shoes - and you wear it until it wears out. When it wears out, you search for a replacement, but by then it's been years since you bought the original and you can't find a perfect replacement.

This week I went to the going-out-of-business sale at a favorite store, an old-time, family-owned department store that has been in business for 94 years. I talked with the cashiers about the yellow sweatshirt I bought there ten years ago (an irreplaceable favorite) and then started talking about going to the same restaurant all the time and always ordering the same thing. "Of course!" they agreed with me. "You know you like that one thing and if you ordered something different you might not like it." "I don't like change," one woman declared, and all nodded.

In some of the "happiness" research that I've read recently, I've read that some of the key to happiness is the ability to gracefully cope with both sameness and change. I hope that retirement brings good changes and much happiness to everyone who owned, managed and worked in this store.

J.M.L.
March 2014