Good Boy

We celebrated this evening Sam's 13th birthday. Sam is my partner Kathy's nephew and a wonderful boy -- smart, thoughtful and polite. He is known to make spaghetti dinners and quiche for his Mom after she has put in 12-hour-days at work. We think he has a fabulous future as a chef and already has a growing collection of cookbooks he refers to in trying new dishes. He also likes to set up military bunkers, play football and practice survivalist skills. He may be one of the few American kids that know every episode of British TV's "Dr. Who." Next week he will be going to a new school, one that promises to give him the education and tools needed for his future. The one thing he doesn't have to learn is how to be a good person, for he is already one of the kindest souls I've ever met.

"If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man, don't bother analyzing his ways of being silent, of talking, of weeping, of seeing how much he is moved by noble ideas; you will get better results if you just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he's a good man."
~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky