Our daughter, PX, is almost 1-1/2 years in the United States from Taiwan. We went out to dinner last night with the family, and I was reminded of one of her frustrations in restaurant-style eating.

She loves to eat out (as does our other daughter – nothing remarkable here). But one thing that has baffled and frustrated her is the filling up of the water glasses. When a glass of water is set before her at the beginning of the meal, her self-appointed mission is to finish the water in her glass. Many times she has been within a couple of mouthfuls of finishing her water, when a waitress sweeps by and dutifully refills the glasses. My daughter can scarcely believe here eyes! She looks up surprised and demoralized to find her goal so blithely obliterated.

“Why did she do that?!”, she demands, “I was almost done!”

Almost done? “Oh, honey,” I try to console, “you don’t have to finish the water.”

PX is a good example of not letting the little things go to waste. She comes from an island nation and is used to conserving resources. I love the way she brings a new perspective to the way I have always done things and challenges the things I take for granted.