Things my father-in-law invests a great deal of time and energy being concerned about that I do not spend any time and energy being concerned about: weather, traffic, and directions.  These are all connected in the main concern of being on-time (although that almost always equals early - for example, he arrived  at 4:15 pm to give me a ride home from work at 5:00 pm).

www.compassion.com/corner

The line that struck me was that "we get everything we wanted only to discover that we're missing something we had before."

The synopsis:

Why is it that often when we get what we want, we still feel empty? We work so hard to succeed, but our lives just end up becoming more about us. Can success turn on us? Can we get caught up in a smaller world where our lives are all about the things that we want? Or is there another way to live? Where life is about more than just us. Where we see people in need and we do something about it. Where our world is expanding because we are sharing our success. And maybe in attempting to save someone else from their suffering, we find out that we are actually the ones being saved.

 

As I drive around, I make a mental note of eating establishments that look interesting to me and that I would like to try someday.  This list has become infamous in our marriage, because usually the places I note turn out to be a big disappointment.  We have dubbed this the "Texas Wiener II" phenomenon, because this hot dog place was one of the first places I dragged my husband to and I believe it was one of the most disgusting eating experiences of his life.

Now I try to satisfy my curiosity when I am by myself.  Yesterday, I checked out a local coffee shop that I had my eye on for a while.  I ordered an egg salad sandwich, a soft drink and a candy bar.  The egg salad tasted like it had spent too much time in the fridge, the bread was stale, the soft drink was syrupy and the candy bar was old.  "Texas Wiener II" I immediately thought.

I've become more discriminating in my tastes (or opinions) in the past few years.  Before I would have said that the meal was "okay," now I can say that it was "bad."