XII. The Good Place

XII. The Good Place

                So Hobblestone is  driving to Aunt Millificent’s. He has two things with him: the rejection letter he had just received, and a piece of pineapple upside-down cake that Virgil’s mother gave him to share with the dear lady.That was a nice, thoughtful, kind thing for her to do. Even Virgil’s mother, you see, had her good points.

Rule # 86: We all have our Good Points.

                There’s a lesson to be learned in this: even Difficult People have their Good Points, although sometimes they’re buried under a lot of stuff that is not so good, and we have to look carefully to see them.

                Take Virgil’s mother, for example. Most of the time, if you put her in a kitchen and let her be in charge of the meal, her Good Points come shining through. As long as nothing happens to upset her idea of The Way Things Are Supposed to Be. (That’s another matter. Maybe we’ll get to it later.) Perhaps you remember the ill-fated pineapple upside-down cake, the one that didn’t make its way to Aunt Millificent. In fact, that pineapple upside-down cake didn’t even make its way to the dining room table. But we digress.

                With an occasional exception, the kitchen was a Good Place for Virgil’s mother. It was where she was at her best. She loved to cook, and she loved to know that people were enjoying her food. We could say that being in the kitchen brought out The Very Best in her.

                What brings out the best in you? Where are your Good Places? What are you like when you’re in a Good Place? How is it different from those crabby days we all have from time to time? When is the last time you’ve been in a Good Place? Why not go there more often if you can? Don’t forget: this book isn’t only about Hobblestone, or Virgil’s mother for that matter.

                I’ll give you a personal example to help stimulate your thinking. Whenever I’m working on this blog, I’m in a Good Place. And sometimes when I’m on edge or just plain crabby, one of the best remedies I have is to sit down and work on this blog. You can do the same thing, you know. Just figure out what you do that puts you into a Good Place and then go there—knitting, perhaps, or cooking, or reading mystery stories, or holding a baby, or even housecleaning (which never works for me). Just go there. Our ability to do that is one of the nice things about life. Just put Rule # 94 into practice.

Rule # 94: With practice, we can learn to build bridges which take us to our Good Places.

                That’s why Hobblestone is driving to Aunt Millificent’s house. Being with her is always a Good Place for him, even when it looks like life is just not working out the way he wants it to. Even with a rejection letter lying on the front passenger seat of his car.

                So, until the next entry, give some thought to your good places. Go there if you can. Build some bridges, bridges that will make your life brighter and also benefit others.

             Rule # 88: When we’re in a Good Place, others benefit from it.

                I also encourage you not to think about the following: 1) Anything having to do with Julia Child; 2) What kind of car did Hobblestone drive? 3) Pineapple plantations in third world countries.

                Have a nice day.