Save A Penny

I bought a coffee and chocolate croissant yesterday (I know, I know...). The total came to $2.51. I said to the cashier, "I'll give you a penny." So I gave her $20.01.

She gave me back $17.51 change. I said, "No, I gave you the penny."

She checked the change and did the math again. "Oh," she said, "Right. But it's only a penny. It's not like it's a dollar and I'll be short and have to make up for it."

I said, "Well, but it's good for us to practise for the day you're a dollar short."

"I suppose."

Of course it's not the penny. It's the practice of being accurate, It's my rejection of throwing things away unnecessarily. It's respect for the seemingly insignificant details of our lives.

In the last couple of weeks, I've picked up quite a few pennies off the street. Pennies must be a recurring theme in this phase of my life. I treat them as lucky pennies. I make a wish and throw them into the next fountain I see, though sometimes I don't see a fountain for days and I probably ended up spending the penny, like on a coffee and chocolate croissant.

But you know what I wish for most often aside from health, wealth, happiness and world peace? I wish for really great books to come my way. And I just found one. I can't put it down. It's called Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Gilbert writes with great wit and humour as she talks about life after divorce and how she set out to "examine three different aspectrs of her nature, set against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence."

Look, this book is hot on the book club circuit. This one's for you, Sil.