The Weakest Link

The strength of a chain is determined by the strength of its weakest link.

Over the years, I have been the victim, er, ah, I mean the recipient of chain letters. Back when Kara was very small, I received one that promised 36 Little Golden Books. All I had to do was send 6 new books to the first 6 people on the list. In as little as 6 weeks, I would receive 36 brand new Little Golden Books. Wow! I purchased 6 books and promptly sent them off, rubbing my hands together in that gleeful way all of us naive people have when we think we've beaten the system! Well, I'm still waiting for the 36 books to arrive. Do you think that I should stop looking? It's been 33 years. I know the Post Office is slow, but this is ridiculous.

Jump forward about 10 years. I received another chain letter telling me that 36 brand new tea towels were about to arrive at my door. All I had to do was send 6 new tea towels to the first 6 people on the list, yadda, yadda, yadda. Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice, shame on ME! Stupid, stupid, stupid. Again, I'm still waiting for those tea towels. This time, I didn't rub my hands together, gleefully. I was just little leery of the whole thing. A little suspicion is a good thing, I guess.

Three years ago, I received a really cool one! This one was for recipes! Yum! But, this one was from a friend's mother! She wouldn't send it to me if it weren't on the up and up! Surely! So, I bit. I painstakingly wrote out 6 recipes on index cards and mailed them out. It's a good thing I wasn't really expecting (well, yes, I was) to get any recipes. We'd be very hungry if I was truly waiting for them. They never arrived. Not a single one. No books, no tea towels, no recipes.

I am the weakest link in any chain letter. It stops at my trash can. As soon as I realize it's a chain letter, I throw it away.

Maybe if I had gotten some Little Golden Books...