World Kindness Day is Nov. 13. Mike and David, however, have never believed that something as important as kindness should be confined to one date, especially when cigars are involved. So, after an exhaustive planning process involving calendars, text messages, selective memory and remarkably little adult supervision, we have chosen to celebrate this internationally significant occasion on Nov. 25.
Some may ask why Nov. 25. Those people clearly do not appreciate the complexity involved in organizing an event of this magnitude. The Olympics take years. Presidential inaugurations require committees. Mike and David managed this with two phones and several opinions. Frankly, the fact that it is happening at all should be considered an organizational triumph.
On Nov. 25, we will gather for what may become the most important World Kindness Day Cigar Meetup in Robson Ranch history. We have not checked whether there has ever been another one, which greatly improves our chances of claiming the record. Historians may someday look back on this evening as the moment when kindness, cigars, and wildly embellished storytelling finally came together in perfect harmony.
And before anyone starts designing membership cards, let us be perfectly clear: we are not a club. Clubs have dues, officers, bylaws, minutes, and people who say things like, “According to Section 4, Subparagraph B.” We have enough problems already. This is simply a cigar meetup: neighbors getting together to enjoy a cigar, laugh, visit with friends, and confidently discuss subjects about which we may possess only limited factual knowledge.
In the spirit of World Kindness Day, we intend to conduct ourselves with an extraordinary level of civility. If someone forgets a cutter, lend him one. If someone needs a light, help him out. If someone tells the same story for the fourth time, smile politely and act surprised at the ending. That is not merely kindness. That is advanced humanitarian work.
Then, of course, there is AJ. Every great gathering needs someone capable of turning an ordinary Tuesday afternoon into an epic historical adventure, and AJ has repeatedly demonstrated that gift. We are not saying AJ exaggerates. We simply believe his stories are unusually resistant to unnecessary factual limitations. By the time AJ finishes telling you what happened at the grocery store, there may be helicopters, celebrities, and at least one event that violates the known laws of physics.
To AJ’s credit, he has never allowed a shortage of confirmed details to interfere with a really good story. If AJ says it happened, our policy is to nod thoughtfully, take another puff and wait for the director’s cut.
World Kindness Day itself is about simple things: holding a door, helping a neighbor, calling an old friend, or checking in on someone. Mike and David would respectfully add one more item to the official list: handing somebody a cigar, pointing toward an empty chair and saying, “Sit down. You look like you’ve had a week.”
That may not earn us a Nobel Peace Prize, but we have not completely ruled it out.
There is one important detail for anyone who wants to attend: we do not publish the meetup location in the newspaper. We keep it private for security and privacy reasons, so only those who join the C-List receive the details. Naturally, this also has the entirely accidental benefit of not giving the HOA several weeks’ advance notice to establish a subcommittee, commission a feasibility study, or position surveillance personnel behind strategically located shrubbery.
To receive the Nov. 25 location, go to CigarMeetup.us and join the C-List.
So join Mike and David on Nov. 25 as we celebrate World Kindness Day 12 days after the rest of the planet. We are not late. We are extending the observance.
Come enjoy a cigar, meet some neighbors, laugh at stories of questionable historical accuracy, and help us prove that kindness is still alive and well at Robson Ranch.
After all, kindness costs nothing. The cigars, unfortunately, are another matter.
Mike & David