My house is over a hundred years old and located at the top of Queen Anne Hill, which overlooks downtown Seattle, the Puget Sound and Mount Rainier.  It’s a great place to live.  Next door, in my neighbor’s yard, there is a mighty old fir tree.  Despite its massive size, the tree looks shaky, weather- worn, like it could easily come down in the next big windstorm.  The tree perpetually sheds tons of needles that cover my yard.  One day, I noticed that my side fence was deteriorating and bowing-in due to the pressure of the mighty old fir tree’s roots that had pushed mounds of soil against the fence.   The back fence bordering another neighbor’s yard also showed signs of decay.  Both properties that abut the side fence and the back fence are rental properties and have property managers; it is next to impossible to contact the owners.

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Today, as I was sitting on the train, reading a journal, I happened to look up and find myself looking directly and deeply into the eyes of a man facing me from a row away. It was a long moment of warmth and it filled my whole body, like there was a sun inside me, and it started to shine and warm me from the inside. I could not stop smiling and looked around a bit stupidly. The man also seemed to be unusually awake. I was quite shocked about my reaction, as my whole body seemed really large and warm- it was a very beautiful shock. And I realized that I did not have to have sex with this man and I did not have to exchange phone numbers nor do anything else that I didn’t feel like.
Realizing this was a relief from previous occasions when I would not even dare allow myself to look so openly into a stranger’s (especially a man’s) eyes, because of possible “dangers”.

As the train came to a stop, I told him how beautiful it was to just look into each other’s eyes and he replied, with a big smile, “ciao.” I then left (Actually, I flew!) because suddenly I did not know what to do. When I went up the stairs, I heard a voice behind me: “ciao, buona giornata.” I guess it was him, but I did not turn around- I was so shy about what happened and how much it touched me. This is my diamond of the day.

-Stephanie B.

My dear friends around the world!

I wanted to share something amazing that happened!

I recently got a new job at our mother company P&G (Braun) in Germany, where I will begin working tomorrow. For the last three years, I had been working in the Braun Design Department, and as a way to celebrate my departure, I threw a “Good-Bye” party.

At the celebration, I was blown away by the heartfelt speech of my boss, Peter, and the gifts my colleagues so generously gave.

Peter spoke in detail about how much I made a difference in the department and that I was the most efficient assistant he ever had! (He is turning 63 and had many assistants before.) His speech lasted 10-15 minutes long! He shared that I was able to arrange all processes so that they were easy for our employees and that it was really great to have worked with me, and that he was truly happy that I got this new job. I was just amazed at what I created there!

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