Andy Smallman

That’s the title of the pilot episode of The Twilight Zone, that fabulous TV show from the early 1960’s. Over the next three weeks I’m presenting one episode each week on the Kind Living Blog, starting with this one, and making a related kind action suggestion.

It’s part of what I call my online kindness classes that I’ve been offering for years.

Each Wednesday I’ll post a little inspiration related to that week’s message and then on Sunday, before announcing the next week’s episode, I’ll post my reflection comments on the concluding one. I think it could be a lot of fun, so click here to access the first episode.

Speaking of that first episode, you can buy an audio adaptation of it, if you like. A short story version of can be found in “Stories from the Twilight Zone.”

PS – Thanks to my kindness class artist Fish Astronaut for providing this image and the others I’ll be using!

That’s Elisa on the left and Alexandre on the right. They’re the daughter and son of Annabelle, who is Frédérique’s sister. You blog veterans may recall that when Melinda, the girls, and I first moved to Nantes in July of 2010, we stayed for almost two weeks in Annabelle’s apartment while she and her kids were on vacation.

Well, last month while we were in Nantes, in fact, while we were longing next to the Boudeau’s pool, Annabelle told me that she was bringing Elisa and Alexandre to the US this month. Earlier this week they were in Chicago. Now they’re in Seattle for a couple of days. And they leave on Monday for a few days in San Francisco.

Melinda & I hosted a dinner last night, barbequing sausage and corn on the grill. I took Elisa and Alexandre to Ravenna Park to toss a Frisbee. Today Melinda took Elisa and Annabelle kayaking, followed by a Mexican lunch at Agua Verde (where I took this picture). Next up, it’s meeting up at Dwight’s & Michele’s to watch the Sounders FC game with their new star Clint Dempsey.

For some sabbatical references related to today’s post, I recommended these two:
Day 70 (8 September 2010) – My New Friend Elisa
Day 16 (16 July 2010) – Chez Boudeau

And then this one from last summer when the Boudeaus were in Seattle:
Manon Can be Silly!

The title of the post is an inside joke that right now only makes sense to the young woman in the photo, Maddie, and me. Before explaining it so more people can be in on it, let me just say that back in June I made plans to travel to Olympia today (70 miles south of Seattle) to visit Maddie and see her house. You see, Maddie is a student at The Evergreen State College, where I went. Before that, she was a student at Puget Sound Community School, that I co-founded.

Maddie and I are connected.

So that’s Maddie’s cat in her arms here. And her cat’s name is Frances. At one point in our conversation today, Maddie said, and I quote, “France is the most important thing in my life.” At least that’s what I heard, a sentiment that makes sense to me.

I came to learn that what Maddie actually said is, and I quote, “Frances is the most important thing in my life.”

That’s different.