Some lighter reading...

This is Brian, posting now. It's been a while since I have posted and I apologize for that. I have trouble articulating my thoughts properly on the "public school" conversation, so I have been quietly pondering everyone's thoughts.

This post is embarrassingly lighter in content than recent posts, but it is still a fun story worth remembering.

A few weeks ago, Maia and I were in the deli of Zingerman's waiting for some smoked salmon to be thinly sliced. I looked down and saw Maia putting her mouth on the tightly wrapped, fresh mozzarella balls placed at child-height. My first (very quick) reaction was to yell "No!" and pull her away, trying to avoid any germ spreading she may have been participating in. My second (more calculated) response was to ask Maia why she was putting her mouth on the cheese -- her motives (as well as most kids her age) for doing something seemingly ill-behaved are often extremely benign in reality.

She responded with "I was giving them hugs and kisses because they are my friends and I love them". Admittedly, the little balls of cheese WERE adorable. I quietly explained to her that we can't put our mouth on food that other people will buy. She seemed to understand this. Upon checkout, I quickly relayed the story to the lady behind the counter. We got the expected "Awwwww" that such a story often extracts from people.

Fast-forward two weeks to this morning. We were practicing a very similar ritual -- bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon on a Saturday morning. One of the staff members from Zingerman's came to us and explained that Maia was to get a surprise! Apparently, the Zingerman's staff gets together once a week to go over the list of noteworthy happenings. In this particular week, there were approximately 65 "good things" that had happened. They voted on their favorite and Maia's mozzarella ball story "won hands down".

What was her surprise? A bag full of chocolates and candy for her to enjoy (slowly) over the next week. Maia was thrilled. She even drew them a thank-you card with a picture of a mozzarella ball, a mint leaf (her favorite flavor these days) and the lady who gave Maia her gift. In all, it made for a charming morning :)