Did you know Mark Twain used to hang out in Carson City with his brother, Orion? He’d drop down from his home in Virginia City and walk along the same sidewalks I currently stroll.
It’s only natural then, on sleepy winter afternoons, for me to slip into conversations with the two brothers as we walk toward a popular drinking hole. Mark has a knack of saying the wisest things in their simplest form. Because his brother is a Nevada bureaucrat, he misses the significance of much of our banter.
For example, today we’re talking about how old we’re all getting to be and Mark says, “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”
Orion doesn’t catch on to the brilliance of his brother’s statement.
Of course, as a fellow writer, I get it and I want to say something back just as clever.
After some creative thought, I smile back at Mark and say, “Yep.”
I think I have a ways to go.