We're really good to have you here.

So have you ever been asked to dog sit or cat sit for a friend while they are away, or

to plant sit even, to water your friend's plants?

Are you the person who's been given the spare key to your neighbor's apartment in case

of emergency?

I feel like maybe this was different in different eras and for different generations,

but I feel like in our lives and our time, there aren't that many formal signs in life.

There aren't that many formal bits of feedback that can tell you if you're doing okay, things

that can tell you whether the people who know you don't just like you, they trust you.

They think you are an honorable person.

There are a few formal things like that.

You can be like voted captain of a team in school sports or something.

You can be chosen by your peers for some kind of responsibility.

Maybe you get asked to be on the select board in your town or you get asked to be on the

bargaining unit at your job or something like that.

And there are some sort of formal things that come across, but more often it's these not

formal, small, personal things being asked by your neighbor or your friend to dog sit,

being entrusted with that, being given that spare key by your neighbor.

Maybe it dawns on you that as your family members are making decisions about where they're

going to live, you find that members of your family are moving to be closer to where you

live.

And that's because they think you're solid that you can be counted on.

...