The Slice: Survey reveals pleasant findings

Here are three things you rediscover when conducting a person-on-the-street survey in downtown Spokane.

1. This city is more diverse than a lot of us think.

2. There really are plenty of friendly people here.

3. Strangers are impressed if you correctly guess the spelling of their names.

“Slice answer (regrets for something lost years ago): “About 40 years ago, I was a tweener wearing my mother’s elegant high school graduation ring while picking strawberries in a friend’s field,” wrote a 51-year-old South Hill woman. “Although she said it didn’t matter and never mentioned it again, I cringe when I think of losing it and imagine it is still there being plowed around every year.

“I regret it but learned an important lesson. It feels much worse losing something that isn’t yours.”

“The secret to marital happiness in Idaho: “No IQs above 80,” wrote Bob Glatzer of Spokane.

“Today’s broken ornament story: “My youngest son took a bite out of a glass tree ornament when he was a year old,” wrote a reader named Lucy.

“I was horrified to see the X-ray showing shards of glass in his stomach. Isn’t that an ancient Chinese murder method?”

This happened in Minnesota, in 1975.

“I overheard the emergency room nurse refer to us as ‘the Christmas tree ornament in room 3.’ All the doctor would say was ‘We won’t know anything for a few days.’ “

But everything turned out OK.

The ornament eater, John Polhamus of Spokane Valley, now has two kids of his own. Presumably he has them on a glass-free diet.

“Animals in the air: Linda Waud’s granddaughter, Hanna, who is not quite 3, seems to be confused about her seasonal ungulates.

She recently has been referring to “flying mooses.”

Right. On Dasher, on Bullwinkle!

“Special Slice holiday greetings: Go to Army infantry soldier Richard Springer, recently deployed to Iraq.

“Your column is the only local news he wants sent to him,” said his mom, Sandi.

Specialist Springer is a 2001 graduate of Mt. Spokane High School. I’m honored to have him as a reader.

His mom contacted me to tell about the time four years ago when, during a family move, Richard accidentally threw out every Christmas ornament she had collected over the years. “He felt terrible,” she wrote.

But that was just stuff, of course. Thinking about her son’s circumstances is an instant reminder that there are more important things.

“Today’s Slice question: What prompted you to make a lifestyle change?

We’re almost to New Year’s resolutions season. Soon it will be time again for experts to declare that you are unlikely to lose weight or stop cussing by simply making a list of goals.

So let’s get real. For you, what catalyst or moment of clarity made the difference and triggered real behavior modification?