And so it reminded me of the loneliness topic that you led with, Scott, but it also led me to believe when you get into this courage aspect, do you think it's the lack of courage in a situation like that when you're on a train that prohibits people from wanting to open up the discussion and start asking the person next to them questions, or is it something else?

I think it is a lack of courage.

Courage, to me, is the foundation stone for all of the things in our lives that bring meaning, but it oftentimes doesn't come naturally.

[laughs] And John, you and I have talked about this many times, that both our bodies and our brains are designed to keep us safe.

They're designed to keep us status quo.

It wants to steer us away from possible negative interactions, things that happen that are maybe uncertain.

We don't know what's going to happen.

So it leads me to wonder what kinds of questions should we deliberately refuse to outsource to AI?

Yes

... at the moment.

Uh, and beginning with Daisy, our French poodle.

"The chimes we hear in our heart.

Daisy brims over with excitement to hear a knock or ring at our door.

I always think of the Sondheim lyric, 'Phone rings, door chimes, in comes company.'" Whether the visitor is a friend, family member, or a neighbor with a misdirected piece of mail, sometimes all we can do is hold Daisy in our arms as she quivers with anticipation.

Daisy has no guile, shyness, or subterfuge.

Mm-hmm

And your mother wore a pair of sunglasses for a specific reason that you will now explain.

Well, it was my father's idea, and without saying anything, the whole idea was that when they walked into the restaurant, my mother was expecting me at that point, what people would see was a visibly pregnant woman who was blind, accompanied by their seeing-eye dog.

Because Penny, our dog, a German Shepherd, was actually a washed-out Chicago police dog.

My grandfather...

On the Irish side of my family was a police sergeant in Chicago.

Penny washed out of the program.

So in any event, they entered the restaurant in Little Italy, and my mother, as she recalled, there was an absolute gasp as people looked up.

wife is French.

Mm.

And to call this number.

It's the weekend, I called the number.

I brought home Leona.

The, the people at the, uh, who worked in the garage that adjoined the alley where she was discovered had begun to call her Leona, so which seemed fine with me.

And in any event, by the time I got the call returned on Monday morning from the nice case officer at the British Embassy, who we later got to know, named Jane Brown, and Jane said, "You know," and pardon my, anybody who's British listening to this, pardon my accent.

She said, uh, "You know, Scott, I really do think there's a reason why this little cat walked up to you.

Yes, like hamsters.