Reason #1

Last Sunday, I received two homemade Valentines from my goddaughters. Logan cut out a big red heart and had a whole paragraph which read, “Dear Ted I hope you have a grate valmines Day. I Love You love Logan.” Cian’s Valentine had a rather idealized version of me, half of my head covered in scruffy (painful-looking) hair, and the other half of my head bald. A green pickle wiggled intimately next to my head.

“The pickle is your cell phone.” Cian’s Mom, Heather, explained to me. “Don’t ask why.”

“I’m never on my cell phone around your girls.” I objected.

“I know.” Heather says. “Don’t ask.

At the exact moment I was attacked by over-eager Valentine Givers, both of them fighting to get me to look at theirs first, three words flash through my heart:  I am important.

I matter enough that they made me awesome, colored, crafty cards. In addition to the green pickle with camera capabilities, Cian’s Valentine includes all of us walking in front of an orange house: her two Moms, her big sister, me and a guy named Mike. I think Mike is a classmate and friend.

Mike, wherever you are, whoever you are, you’re important enough to stay on my fridge for a few months.

Reason #2

Today I got encrypted email.

A current client insists on certain precautions with their private data, and I don’t blame them. It’s a sign of the times, I suppose. And ultimately it’s not that big a deal:  anyone who can download software can have encrypted emails. All you need is a mouse and some patience to figure it out.

Nevertheless, when that first email arrived, 44 rows of encrypted code showed up:

A8GVY5R8C32S7BB9
T9A1R5G6HN34DV8K
S8FG6V53W8CN6983
E9Z83HC52H67CK20L

I was thrilled!

Secret code! I am important!

I had this rush go through me, strong resonance with my childhood, wanting to grow up and do important things in the world. The kind of things that are so damn important that you have to speak in code, it’s the best way. And sure enough, I’m doing something so important that we have to speak in code. I am really, really important.

It just made me laugh. I got a email which literally required secret decoder keys!

Reason #3

The phone rang this morning. John in Arizona called on his way to work with important news. He was in the grocery store moments earlier, and passed a woman speaking to her daughter propped in the grocery cart, apparently eating string cheese.

“So, Dude,” gushed John. “As I walked by, the only little snippet of conversation I heard was, ‘Oh Sam, you’re always so good with the cheese.’ That’s it! What the hell was that? What does that mean?”

We discussed the many interpretations of the cheese line, and we practiced saying it a few different ways, trying it out. John imagined dark scenarios, of a violent Mom used Swiss to sooth her daughter in public. I had a much more uplifting theory:  Cheese Prodigy. This kid is going to do great things with cheese later in life and her Mom will always pride herself on how supportive she was, learning of her daughter’s gift.

John would have none of it.

“I gotta go.” he said soon we exchanged a few theories. “I had to tell someone about that. Later!”

As I hung up, I realized again, I am important.

I am someone you call when you see something weird. That’s an important phone call, right? You see something bizarre in the world or you overhear a phrase and you think, “Who would appreciate this?”

On the other hand, maybe John called me because I’m the kind of guy who would recognize a Cheese Prodigy if I met one in the supermarket.

John and I didn’t get a chance to talk much this morning; he had places to go, things to do.

Apparently, he is important as well.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 26th, 2009 at 11:01 pm and is filed under Gratitude. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.