To all my faraway friends...Let us eat cake.

If you were here today, I would pour you a steaming mug of coffee. And I would give you one of the nice mugs--the kind can't be put into the dishwasher but must be handwashed afterward, as a testament that I simply wished to give you only my best, even if it meant extra work. And I would cut us both a slab of cake. They would be big slabs, ones that would show you that I had made the cake just for your visit and not for another special occasion. You would be the "special occasion." I would make a fuss without being fussy.

And I would still myself and look you in the eye to let you know that I'm really listening to you talk about whatever you wanted to talk about. If you were were here today...