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I am the kind of person who develops great expectations. I have done this all my life. I have big dreams about how things should be but those dreams are often dashed when things do not turn out as I expected.

The men huddled together engrossed in deep conversation. For years they had loved and cared for their paralyzed friend with patient endurance. Day by day they had performed the most menial and primitive needs for this one who could do nothing for himself. They loved him and that is what kept them at their tasks.

You just have to love old houses. They are full of surprises and you never know what you will find. Sometimes the surprises are fun, like when we took down our aged mantle piece and discovered some charred postcards written in the 1800's along with an old coin from 1825, and a couple of pictures from years past. But other surprises are not so pleasant.

Recently while visiting a friend we got talking about the large pine trees in her front yard. They were randomly scattered around the lawn and over time had grown large and full. For many years they had provided hiding places for the children who played around them. For many hours they were an obstacle course for the lawn mower that had circled them. And on many days they provided a beautiful backdrop for family events and special pictures.

It is a terrible feeling to be lonely. Everyone experiences aloneness at different times in his or her life. There are periods when you are physically alone, but it is also possible to have this desolate feeling when surrounded by lots of people.

Recently on an airplane trip I was asked to move from my assigned seat to accomodate a young family. I gladly moved to the new seat located by the exit door. I did not think much about it, other than there was more leg room, until the flight attendant approached and standing in the aisle between the seats launched into a memorized speech. I missed most of what she said until she neared the end. She asked those of us in these extra leg room seats, "Are you ok with this?" Most nodded in ignorant agreement, but I immediately queried, "Whoa, could you repeat that? What am I agreeing to?"