Thing #31. Never assume.

Never assume. This is a principle I learned from my journalism prof. If you failed to clarify the response to an interview question, don’t assume you know what he meant. Go back to the source and get all the information you need. Never assume.

It’s a motto that well serves the news business. But in recent years I’ve realized how much we need to apply this to each other as human beings.

It’s easy to assume the mom speaking a little too harshly to her children in the grocery store is simply a bad mother. But we don’t know that for sure. She may very well have been up all night with a sick child—as a good mother would—and is exhausted.

We can’t assume that every overweight person we see is unable to control their appetite. (There are lots of reasons people gain weight; overeating is just one of them.)

We can’t assume that the new employee who passed us in the hall without a hello is a snob. (She could be shy or distracted or worried.)

We can’t assume people who appear happy on the outside aren’t miserable on the inside. (Do I need to explain this one?)

We can’t assume that every homeless person we pass on the street is an uneducated drug addict.

(Their stories may surprise you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THxtcWNw3QA)

Reserve judgment until you know the whole story. And if you can’t know the whole story, don’t judge.

Thing #30. Embrace the cloud.

I don’t pretend to fully understand what is meant by “the cloud,” but it has something to do with the great big world of interconnected computers. At least one element of the cloud the idea of storing things where everybody can access them. Sites like Instagram and Dropbox are part of the cloud, for example.

Our family is starting to make use of this idea by keeping certain documents (like spreadsheets, photos, recipes) in Google Drive. It’s especially nice when one member of the family lives in a faraway place like, say, MISSOURI. When the faraway family member wants her favorite recipe, the holder of the recipe can upload the recipe to the cloud. The family member living far away (with a smart phone) can even access the recipe in the grocery store. That is the genius of the cloud.

We’ve started putting photos there, too. It’s so much easier than making prints, or even emailing a photo, because it keeps all the photos in one place.

So, as your family members spread to the corners of the earth, consider sharing documents in the cloud.

Here’s one of my favorite recipes to get you started. It was easy for me to find. It was in the cloud.

(By the way, the proper expression is "in the cloud" not "on the cloud." A techie at work very kindly corrected me on that. On the cloud sounded pretty comfy to me.) 

Zucchini Bread

from Becky Grosenbach

3 eggs

2 c sugar

1 c oil

1 T vanilla

2 c peeled, coarsely grated, loosely packed zucchini

2 c flour

1 t salt

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1 T cinnamon

1 t nutmeg

1⁄4 t cloves

1 c chopped nuts

1⁄2 c raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large mixing bowl, beat eggs until frothy. Add sugar, oil, and vanilla to

eggs and beat until thick. Stir in zucchini.

Sift together dry ingredients and add to zucchini mixture; mix well. Stir in nuts (and raisins).

Pour into two greased and lightly floured 9x5x3-inch bread pans. Bake one hour or until toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. Freezes well.