A few of my favorite things

Julie Andrews in the movie The Sound of Music helps the von Trapp children through a scary thunderstorm, by singing about a  few of her favorite things, including raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, and brown paper packages tied up with strings to name a few.

I’m no Julie Andrews, but I’ve found that we have a lot in common. I know exactly what I like and don’t like or, in my words, what I don’t like and like.

Here’s what I mean:

In this day and age of the cookie cutter and fake, I crave good, old common sense and the authentic.

I hate television shows like Survivor and the Bachelor/Bachelorette. I love the unpretentious, little old couple in the back who’s been married 50 plus years and has survived everything that life has thrown at them, human tragedies, Mother Nature’s crazy handiwork, but vowed to stick together and have followed through with stubbornness and love.

My list is out of this world, but it doesn’t compare with the 1965 original: The Sound of Music, produced and directed by Robert Wise, and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.

I hate the over-night billionaire. Give me the mom and pop entrepreneur who got up early at the break of day and worked late at night, well past everyone else had gone home, to build a local business, and have struggled to build something that will stand the test of time.

I hate our cocky, look-at-me culture. I love the kid down the block who shovels his elderly neighbor’s sidewalk and driveway “just because.”

I hate the mindset that says, “I did this on my own.” I love the one that says, “we did this together.” In the same vein, I hate “I failed.” I hate even more “you failed.” I love “I stumbled, but look at me now, look at what I’ve learned and what I’ve been able to achieve.”

I hate utilitarian emails and texts. I love handwritten thank you notes.  I hate cellphone conversations (especially ones that I have to overhear in the lobby of the waiting room.) I love laughter (even ones I overhear in the lobby of the waiting room.)

I hate stopping people at the border and putting them into cages. I love “let’s find a way to solve this immigration problem.” We have a process for legal immigration. When people break it, let’s work together to find a reasonable, humanitarian solution.

I hate the New York Yankees in Major League Baseball, the New England Patriots in the National Football League, and the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association. I hate the teams that have all the money and fame. I love the low budget Cinderellas.

My list comes nowhere close to cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels, doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles, wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings that Andrews loved, but it’s still a few of my favorite things.