So, here’s A Funny Story. Life is a lot like a snowflake – each of our experiences is different from another’s.

However, we make it through this many-pronged life by sharing our pains and joys and finding those who say, “I know exactly what you mean.”

How can that be? 

Because Both Things Are True. Life is individual, and yet collective. The Precious and Fragile Things we go through, by Happy Catastrophe, seem to match a friend’s Precipice toward disaster or delight.

“I’m Betting on Good,” the eternally optimistic woman, Pam Ella, insists out loud as she walks into my café, seating herself in the corner table. “It’s Small Things Like This – parallel coincidences, shared Walks in the Midnight Rain, The Scent of Hours baking cookies, visiting A Christmas Tree Farm – all of this creates a Great Big Beautiful Life that we share through universal connections.”

She’s quarreling with Pammee, who sits across from her at the table disagreeing vehemently. “None of us know what the hell we’re doing, or where we’re going or will end up. It’s like a continual Detour on the Eternal Road to nothingness, or nonsense!” Pammee groans like A Woman Betrayed, like someone Presumed Guilty before she has a chance to find something to believe in.

Pam Ella places a hand on her friend sympathetically, “By Any Other Name, you’re a skeptic, not a disbeliever. You’ve been a Correspondent with loss and despair and at times, you feel Like the Stranger in a Lifeboat. But I assure you …”

Pammee shrugs Pam Ella’s hand off and shakes her head. “We’re like Strangers in Time,” she insists. “Where I see dark, you see light. Where you see a God in the Woods, I see The Black Wolf, ready to devour me.”    

The two friends, as different as sunrise and sunset, sit together at my cozy café. I hand them both a cup of hot chocolate, hoping that even If Tomorrow Never Comes, they’ll reach some consensus that there is Still Life at Eighty, Or Sixty. Or Thirty.

“Let’s come to the Four Agreements,” Pam Ella suggests, the whipped cream on the top of her drink spreading on the tip of her nose, like a cloud on a clear sky.

“What agreements?” Pammee asks, suspiciously.

“First, you won’t be Gone Before Goodbye.”

“What does that mean?” Pammee sips her hot chocolate as if afraid it will burn her tongue.

Pam Ella continues, “It means despite our differences in opinion we are always there for each other. I don’t want to get any Notes About Your Sudden Disappearance.”

Pammee sits back in her café chair and releases a full-throated hearty laugh. “Oh, my dear Pam Ella. You are To Die For. I know my thoughts are Not Quite by the Book of eternal hope and happiness that you live by. But you can always Tell Me Everything and I will listen. I might even learn. But mostly, my friend, I will always love you.”

“Aha!” Pam Ella responds, throwing her hands up as if she’s just made a touchdown. You see? Earth’s the Right Place for Love. And love is what connects us all to the Universe!” She gulps the last of her hot chocolate with a wide grin.

I chuckle as I pick up the empty cups and watch Pam Ella and Pammee leave the café, arm in arm. The Atmosphere has changed from stormy to serene. Once again, my recipe worked: dollop of cream, a dash of cinnamon, and a splash of magic.

Like Lightning in a Mason Jar, or a snowflake on the tongue, insight happens in an instant and lasts for a lifetime.  

Happy New Year, readers. The beginning of each year, I enjoy writing a story using titles from many of the books I read the year before. I never know where the titles will lead me. In this case, do you have an idea of who the two characters are? I think we often have these discussions within ourselves – the positive, and the negative. Which side wins in YOUR life? This link will send you to a list of all the incredible novels I read in 2025. https://www.goodreads.com/readingchallenges/gr/annual/2025