Scene I: Deb and Li are at the local public library. Deb recognizes a friend named Steve, who comes over. Deb introduces him to Li.
Deb: “Li, this is Steve.”
Li (looking a little puzzled, to Steve): “You are not a monkey.”
Steve (pauses, lacking any context for such a statement, and replies): “That’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me today.”
The background for this one is that Deb and Li were just returning a book to the library where one of the main character’s friends was a monkey named Steve.
Scene II: Deb and Li are at home. Deb is having one of “those” days, and is struggling to get the lid off the container of M&Ms. Eventually, the lid comes off unexpectedly and M&Ms explode out of the container and scatter all over the kitchen floor.
Li: “Daddy doesn’t open it that way.”
The traditional gift for marking a twentieth wedding anniversary is china, and I find it very fitting as Deb and I celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary today that we have been given a gift that fits that tradition in a very non-traditional way in our daughter Li. What better gift of China could one possibly hope for?