The trend in everyday conversation is to use grandiose words. "Outstanding" is new "good," "amazing" is the new "OK," and "huge" is the new "big."

The trend in everyday conversation is to use grandiose words. "Outstanding" is new "good," "amazing" is the new "OK," and "huge" is the new "big."
I was in a restaurant in D.C. last weekend and everything I asked was answered in superlatives.

Me: How s the salmon?

Server: Fantastic!

Me: Does it come with rice?

Server: Absolutely!

Would a "good" and a "yes" have been sufficient? Undeniably!

At Starbucks, the smallest coffee you can order is a Tall. Tall would seem to indicate that there was also a short and medium, with Tall being the largest. But at Starbucks, Tall is small. Grande, which is both Italian and Spanish for large, is medium.

Likewise, at your local 7-Eleven you cannot buy a small: Your choices are Big Gulp, Super Gulp and Extremely Big Gulp. OldBananaNavyGap also did away with the small. You cannot buy anything from the chain stores that is really a "small." My father is an average-sized man. He hasn t gained weight (or height, for that matter) for the past 30 years. Ergo, his size remains the same. But in the same amount of time, his T-shirt size has gone from small/medium to medium to large to extra large.

Upon reflection, the reason for all this colossal-speak is clear: We are bored with our fantastic, wonderful lives. We want the next-next thing now. Now!

And we also want others to think that we still care, that we can still be delighted, that we know that everything is just great. Even when deep inside we know it can t be. Everything can t be great. Hence, we live in a world where extreme is ordinary, where radical is quotidian; exceptional is pedestrian. And to not be overly delighted by the mundane is appalling. It s horrific. And, Dude, that s heinous.

I m not scientist, and my methods of proof leave a little to be desired, or a lot to be desired, or an immensity. An to be honest, I guess I d rather live in a world where people were overly excited than depressed.

But listen to the voices around you. Listen to your own voices. There is nothing on the news that is good or bad, only things that are wonderful or devastating. Even the weather is either beautiful or horrible.

Listen the next time when someone asks you something and you agree, because when you could simply say "yes," instead you will say "absolutely" or "without doubt" or "Oh, yeah, unquestionably - absolutely without doubt."

Have people forgotten what it is like to be OK? Simply OK with what they have and who they are?

If everything is outstanding, if everything is the most amazing thing ever, is anything ever amazing at all?






A Friend is....
Accepts you as you are
Believes in "you"
Calls you just to say "Hi" "
Doesn't give up on you
Envisions the whole of you
Forgives your mistakes
Gives unconditionally
Helps you
Invites you over
Just "be" with you
Keeps you close at heart
Loves you for who you are
Makes a difference in your life
Never judges
Offers support
Picks you up
Quiets your fears
Raises your spirits
Says nice things about you
Tells you the truth when you need to hear it
Understands you
values you
Walks beside you
X-plain things you don't understand
Yells when you won't listen and
Zaps you back to reality





Consider...YOU. In all time before now and in all time to come, there has never been and will never be anyone just like you. You are unique in the entire history and future of the universe. Wow! Stop and think about that. You're better than one in a million, or a billion, or a gazillion...


You are the only one like you in a sea of infinity!


You're amazing! You're awesome! And by the way, TAG, you're it. As amazing and awesome as you already are, you can be even more so. Beautiful young people are the whimsey of nature, but beautiful old people are true works of art. But you don't become "beautiful" just by virtue of the aging process.


Real beauty comes from learning, growing, and loving in the ways of life. That is the Art of Life. You can learn slowly, and sometimes painfully, by just waiting for life to happen to you. Or you can choose to accelerate your growth and intentionally devour life and all it offers. You are the artist that paints your future with the brush of today.


Paint a Masterpiece.


God gives every bird its food, but he doesn't throw it into its nest. Wherever you want to go, whatever you want to do, it's truly up to you.