It’s healthy to make sure we love ourselves too...

THANKFULLY, the symptoms were spotted before his heart failed.

But Danny now has cardiac stents in place and needs to make some major lifestyle changes. It’s difficult because, while he is not very overweight, he is hooked on all the wrong sorts of foods.

Thankfully, he also has Addy, his three-year-old granddaughter, in his life.

Whenever Addy visits, she gets the healthiest of food and drinks.

“Because we love her,” Danny explained, “and we want the best for her.”

TWO-YEAR-OLD Daniel was playing with his Thomas The Tank Engine toys.

“Thomas and Percy are really useful engines,” he said. I recognised the phrase from the books.

“Are you a really useful engine?” I asked. He thought this was the funniest thing ever. “No!” he laughed. “I’m a boy!” “So… are you a really useful boy?” I asked. He seemed a little confused by the idea, so we spent a while discussing what made someone useful. The answers were varied, interesting, funny… and the question is always worth considering.

We agreed that, of course he was. And I concluded that it was a really useful morning – for both of us!

Then Addy’s mum reminded him that his granddaughter, and the rest of the family, loved him every bit as much. And he should as well.

The change of diet has made a big difference. The lesson for Danny – and the rest of us – is that loving others might be a shorterterm exercise than we planned, unless we love ourselves too!

I WALLPAPERED a feature wall for a friend recently. “Ohh…” he asked, a little embarrassed. “What kind of chocolate do you like?” Now, I do like chocolate, but I demurred. “And…” he added, “I was going to get you a card.”

I told him thanks, but not to bother. You see, he had showed me around the house – this house that was a new start for him. The floors were bare and his bed was a sleeping bag. Yet he wanted to buy me a chocolate bar and a card.

The moment he said that, I understood that, as a percentage of the little he had, I had just been offered much more than the going rate.

I went home later, covered in paste, and richer (and no doubt slimmer) for having refused payment.