(From the Introduction) 

There are certain exquisite experiences that one has which, when recalled, provoke involuntary smiles. This is mainly because they expose inside jokes or private secrets. There are also more public experiences that one has in life that are automatically and instantaneously designed to provide one with positive feelings. You know which experiences these are because thinking back on them always brings a quality of warmth and calm, good feelings and often, actual joy. Have you ever been hard at work or just walking down the street when some small stimulus brought about a sudden recollection of one of these incidents and you started to giggle or laugh out loud? The stimulus for this experience might be a smell, a sight, a person or some quality in the immediate environment. The recollection may be something as super special as grandma's hundred pound matzoh balls (which could be taken out of her hot chicken soup and flung at the enemy for certain victory). Boy, they were good, the best! Grandma didn't believe in the light and fluffy matzoh balls. Is there anything better than hot homemade chicken soup with noodles or matzoh balls, chicken and boiled egg yolks on a cold, icy and snowy day? Or, what about the smells and the ambiance of Yankee Stadium or the old Brooklyn Dodgers' famous Ebbets Field in August? I grew up very near to the Polo Grounds in Manhattan where the old New York Giants played and I can still remember the drama with which this stadium constantly resonated. There was nothing like the unique smell of the newly mowed green grass of that field mixed with the smell of stale beer, hot dogs, mustard, and thirty thousand people on a hot summer day. It was a thrill and brings one of those automatic smiles to my face as I type these words.

Of course the stadium provided the arena for my grandmother's salami sandwiches and garlic pickles. She would dutifully pack a bag of goodies for my friends and me whenever we went to the ball game. That entire ambiance package was different from any other ballpark among the many that I have visited. This is especially when one considers what we used to call "the garlic bleachers." The combination of kosher salami, deli mustard, Jewish rye and garlic pickles afforded us about five open seats on every side. This was because we were so heavily imbued with garlic and stewing in the hot, open bleacher sun that few people could take sitting close to us. We loved it!

Old and positive experiences may encompass the whole breadth and scope of one's life. They could be as important as a great report card handed over by a smiling child or as minimal and unexpected as a State Faire blue ribbon for your own lemon meringue pie recipe.

The short stories that follow are my examples of life experience happenings that created exceptionally good and lasting feelings for me. They reflect life's reality at its rawest, highest and best. I hope that they will register with you, bring a smile to your face and make you feel as good as they made me feel. My friends have told me that some of the stories may be thought of as questionable regarding truth because they are so unique. However, as you read, remember that there is nothing in any of my presentations that is fictionalized or untrue. It is just that I have led the kind of life that lends itself to happenings such as these.
 

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