A Phone Call

            My son Jules has always excelled at whatever he does. He is a professor at a fine university, earns a lot of money through all his activities, and recently had a successful art exhibition in Beverly Hills.

            He just called me.

            “Dad,” he said, “tell me something.”

            “Yes?”

            “Should I worry about my memo to the Chair this morning?”

            “I don’t think so,” I said. “It’s okay.”

            “Should I worry about my students? What if they don’t like my class?”

            “All your reviews have always been good,” I said.

            “It worries me. Should I worry about it?”

            He asked this as if worry is voluntary. Real worry isn’t.

            “Rather than worry about something you don’t need to, why don’t you stop and think how much you should be thankful for,” I said.

            “You’re right,” he said. “You’re absolutely right.”

            We hung up a few minutes later.  I sat down on the sofa with a glass of tea and suddenly I thought: Why don’t I ever stop and realize what I’m grateful for? How did that even come out of me? 

Copyright 2012 James P. White All Rights Reserved (No part of this work may be reproduced in any way, except to quote on blogs for reviews or tour stops, without the express permission of the author.).