[Fandfs] some things Cynthia taught me

[Greg Minshall <minshall@acm.org>]

to appreciate food.  (later in life, to realize it is possible to have
delicious, good, American food.)

to pick up pennies from the sidewalk.

to soak limbs with infected cuts in the hottest water possible for as
long as possible.  (there was a dispute between Cynthia and my father
over whether the water should contain soap, or salt; i've settled for
loose leaf black tea.)

that reading comic books, even reading the seditious Mad Magazine, is
better -- much, much better -- than reading nothing at all.

to think of as normal, long dinners with an eclectic group of people --
artists, writers, leftists, construction workers -- long conversations
around the dining room table -- to see all that as normal, even
desirable.

on the other hand, to realize that just sitting and reading a book is
also perfectly acceptable, wonderful even.  to enjoy winter evenings of
few visitors, glad rivers.

that one should and could work to support oneself.  i started spending
my summers at Cynthia's when i was 11 or so, and the agreement i had
with her and my dad was that i would work each week to pay my room and
board.  (a lot of this work consisted of burning the yard waste in the
incinerator then out where the orchard now is, and i considered this a
*great* job!)  clever wise ones they were, part of my wages came back to
me in the form of cash money (useful for buying Marvel comic books!).
Cynthia wanted to teach every young person in her life the value of
money.

"waste not, want not."  check.

"it's a good life if you don't weaken."  check.  (though, if you were
lucky and paid attention, you realized that what Cynthia taught us was
that even you do, occasionally, weaken, it's *still* a good life.)
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