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Opinion Columnists Jeff Petersen's columns Of Oreos and beer
Of Oreos and beer
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If this is Indian Summer, it must be the Inuit version. The indigenous people of the Arctic and Subarctic, feeling in a generous mood, have sent us plenty of unseasonably cool weather this October. Neither rain, snow, sleet or hail can stop the Inuit. Nor can it stop the post office. But a federal holiday can stop the post office and its friendly, helpful, courteous employees in their tracks.
The package of Oreos designed to reach me on my first e-anniversary, Oct. 12, arrived a day late, since Monday was Columbus Day, a federal holiday in honor of the intrepid explorer who discovered the Bahamas Archipelago. An e-anniversary, as you might suspect, honors couples who first get in contact by e-mail and then date later. The Oreos were a big surprise. The Wonder Woman, aka my girlfriend, and I have made it a year since she wrote that first e-mail with the twist — I suppose you twist your Oreos apart, she wrote, and dunk them in beer. I hadn’t. But I was willing to give it a try. I was also willing to give the relationship a try, having lost my wife a little more than a year earlier. I had sent the Wonder Woman a wink nine days earlier, a prefabricated Yahoo.com personals message that said, “We seem to have a lot in common.” We have even more in common now. Living 90 miles apart, we’ve shared a Santa Maria, Pinta and Nina boatload of e-mails in the year since — and grown to love each other very much. Not enough for her to send me beer to dunk the Oreos in, but a lot. The relationship has been a godsend for me, especially the sharing aspects. It reminds me how important sharing is to successfully sail the ocean blue and make the world a better place. We need to ... Share the road. Two out of three drivers will like me as a bicyclist with the strange space-age looking helmet. They will slow down and pass carefully. The third driver will be in a rush to get home from work and wish I would get out of the way because they are in a rush to kick the dog and yell at the wife. Share the wealth. Give to those less fortunate. One good way is through the United Way campaign now getting into full swing. A gift to United Way supports many local organizations that help our neighbors. Share your gifts. Whether you write well or build beautiful houses, share it with the world. Share life. If you have a chance to find your significant other, whether it is online, in church, at a club or wherever, make the most of the opportunity. It could be the most important connection you ever make. Neither rain, sleet, snow in the Blue Mountain pass or hail can stop our relationship. A federal holiday might set it back a notch, but we’re still happy that the mail goes through, life goes on and thanks to Oreos, it is sweeter than ever.
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