🧂 Searching for my lost shaker of salt…

🌴 Celebrating an inspiration. Over the weekend, we lost musician Jimmy Buffett at the age of 76. While we’re saddened by the news, we’re here to celebrate an incredible life lived to its very fullest.

They say you can’t mix business with pleasure. Really? Well then explain Jimmy Buffett’s entire existence!

The man turned a niche in “island escapism” music into a massive net worth amassed through his Margaritaville restaurant chain among other ventures. His music, wherever you may be on the planet, transports you without fail to a sunny beach locale, at least mentally. Try it - I defy you to put on “Cheeseburger in Paradise” or “Margaritaville” and tell me you don’t feel at least a little more tropical.

We’re inspired by that transcendent ability to transport, and it’s a similar effect our humble newsletter hopes to achieve with an escape from the perils of Monday mornings. Buffett gave generations of “Parrotheads” that warm feeling of escape, and he gave back while he did it.

Buffett was co-founder of the Save the Manatee Club, dedicated to the conservation of the species. But it’s not just the manatees. Since the summer of 1995, Buffett concert tickets have included a notation that $1 of the ticket price goes to Buffett-founded Singing for Change, which makes grants to organizations making a difference in communities nationwide. The slogan? Turning good vibes into good deeds. Now there’s a legacy to leave.

In the wake of various disasters - hurricanes, oil spills, earthquakes - Buffett could often be counted on to play relief shows, once again arriving with good vibes when needed most…and sometimes even sending planes full of supplies.

His music will live on for generations to come, and we hope we can all fill the good vibe gulf left by his absence. It’ll be tough, though.

This was a man who flew to Jamaica with Bono in 1996 and was shot at by Jamaican authorities who mistook his plane for drug smugglers. No harm, no foul said Buffett, moving on and writing a song called “Jamaica Mistaica” about the incident.

Legend.

👩‍⚕️ The wish to end all wishes. Make-A-Wish has delivered some incredibly moving moments over the years. Children fighting critical illnesses have met their heroes or experienced amazing things and emerged stronger with renewed resolve.

Evie Herman, a 15 year old from Westport, Connecticut, thought she might want to use her wish to meet the cast of Hamilton…at first.

Evie was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age 6. She’s now in remission, but having spent so many days of her youth in hospitals surrounded by doctors, healthcare professionals, and patients, she realized a desire to join the fight against cancer when she grows up. So, with her wish, Evie chose to be a pediatric oncologist for the day. Sorry Lin-Manuel Miranda, but she wasn’t about to throw away her shot…

As part of her wish, Evie visited Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, and the Jackson Laboratory. Along the way, she met with various doctors and professionals, including several pediatric oncologists. With Evie’s incredible initiative and determination, there might not be a need for quite as many wishes in the future. Inspiring as those stories can be, I think we’d all prefer it that way.

📈 Simple mood boosters. Today is one of those days where we’ll take any good vibes we can get. Let’s be honest: there’s only so much pumpkin spice can do to allay end of summer sadness. But, there are plenty of simple ways to improve your mood, just take it from this survey of Londoners commissioned by cheese snack, Babybel.

Why is Babybel out here running happiness surveys? Beats me, but having enjoyed one or two in my day, eating a Babybel might just be the answer to the question they’re asking.

Cheese snacks aside, here are the top 20 things that make people happy:

1. A good night’s sleep

2. A sunny blue sky

3. Summer (damn!)

4. Receiving a compliment or praise

5. Booking a holiday (it’s called a vacation, you silly Brits)

6. Crying with laughter

7. Getting a quiet moment to yourself

8. Eating your favorite snack

9. Pets being happy to see you

10. Looking back at old photographs

11. Finishing a great book

12. Helping an elderly person with something

13. Finishing a workout

14. Hearing children belly-laughing

15. Finding a parking space when it’s busy

16. A newly-cleaned car

17. When your sports team wins

18. A heart-to-heart with a loved one

19. Volunteering or helping others

20. Finding out your children have done well at school

Some of these are, of course, beyond our control, but don’t forget to appreciate them should they happen! Let a hellacious fist pump fly when you find that great parking space; major bonus points if you ace a parallel park job under pressure. Who among us doesn’t walk a little taller after executing a parallel park to perfection first try?!

A lot of these items are at your immediate disposal though. So, find a quiet place, have a snack, and look at some old pics. Savor that greeting from your dog. Read that book. Hold the door for that old person. Clean your car for crying out loud, it’s filthy!

You can also reverse engineer ways to brighten others’ days. So dish out those compliments like prime Magic Johnson. Make people laugh. Do your kid’s homework and then beam with pride when you find out they’re doing well in school. Then eat their Babybels as a reward. You earned it.

🏝️ Outwit, outlast, impress Sia. Did you know the American version of the reality TV series Survivor is set to premier its 45th season later this month? Not as many people watch these days as they did at the show’s peak in the early 2000s, but the show that ignited the reality TV boom still captivates over 7 million viewers.

One of them? Survivor superfan and superstar singer, Sia. Say that five times fast.

Sia loves the show so much that since the end of Season 33, she has distributed her own reward money to contestants that didn’t win the grand prize. Most recently, the “Sia Award” amounted to $100,000, with smaller prizes given to other players. The singer chooses recipients based on whose journeys resonate or are special to her, also considering her admiration for the way they played the game.

According to host Jeff Probst, having been fortunate in her own career, Sia wants to share some of that fortune with those on the show that bring her joy and inspire. It’s safe to say she won’t be voted off the island anytime soon.

Wonder if she got to go on Derek’s fishing trip too.

With Labor Day weekend coming to a close, it’s a good time to memorialize an event that was a staple of the holiday for nearly five decades. From 1966 to 2014, the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon aired to national audiences to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. During that time, the event raised literal billions of dollars.

While not without its critiques, the event’s growth was a phenomenon. We can see it if we look at the donation totals for the years the event ended on today’s date, September 5th. That includes the very first edition.

• 1966 - $1,002,114

• 1977 - $26,841,490

• 1983 - $30,691,627

• 1988 - $41,132,113

• 1994 - $47,105,136

$1 million is no humble beginning, but it is relative to donation totals by the time the event concluded in 2014 (over $56 million). It shows how well-intentioned efforts can snowball in impact as time goes on, so don’t be afraid to start small.

Heck, maybe Coach Boone would’ve found a different way to roast Gary Bertier if he knew what Jerry Lewis and co. would go on to accomplish for MDA.

It’s rarely a bad idea to make sure everything is okay. When a shopper in London spotted a man asking an 11 year old girl if she was alone, she figured something was probably amiss. The man approached the girl as she came out of a store after watching her inside, as CCTV footage later showed. Suspecting something was a little off, the shopper confronted the man and beckoned the child to come into the store with her. After the shopper threatened to call the police, the man stormed off.

Unbeknownst to the shopper, the man was accompanied by an accomplice who was waiting close by. According to the police, the Good Samaritan very likely interrupted an attempted abduction. That girl’s life - and her family’s - could’ve been forever changed, but one bystander followed a hunch to save the day with some very simple, but very crucial actions.

It’s both scary and depressing to recognize there are people in the world ready to do something as horrific as abducting a young girl, but it’s also incredibly heartening to know that there are far more people ready and willing to stop those things from happening.

Not all heroes wear capes, but this one wears a green dress, carries massive shopping bags, and is a legendary addition to our Great Samaritan Avengers.

🏐 A bump (set, spike) in women’s sports attendance. After months of planning, the world record for most people in attendance at a women’s sporting event doesn’t belong to FC Barcelona, a Women’s World Cup match, or the US Open. That title rests in Lincoln, Nebraska, where 92,003 fans watched the University of Nebraska volleyball team beat Omaha three sets to zero.

That total surpasses the prior world record of 91,648, set for a women’s Champions League tilt in Barcelona in April 2022. It also replaces the prior record for a women’s sporting event held in the United States (90,185); that record was set way back in 1999 for the Women’s World Cup Final, which saw the US women triumph in penalty kicks.

While a special event, this was no fluke. Nebraska Volleyball has sold out 306 consecutive matches. The university canceled classes for students to attend, throwing full support behind the program and the opportunity to showcase what’s possible for women’s sports.

Can’t help but chuckle every time I see this video, though.

Nebraska: tries to set world record for attendance at a women’s sporting event.

Nebraska’s male head coach: “Alright, so obviously I’ll lead us out.”

🏅 From South Sudan to the Olympics. South Sudan won’t win this summer’s Basketball World Cup. In fact, they failed to advance out of round 1. But by defeating Angola this weekend, they clinched a prize just as special.

For the first time in the country’s history - not just in basketball, but in any sport - South Sudan has qualified for the Olympics.

The country became independent in 2011 but has been plagued by civil wars with Sudan for decades. As a result, South Sudan’s basketball roster is comprised of refugees and children of refugees from the war-torn country. The stories are remarkable, from players born into refugee camps to those born in Sudan that had to flee.

The program’s coach, ex-NBA player Royal Ivey, noted it was only a year ago that they were practicing on flooded, concrete courts, further adding to their underdog status. Now though, they’ll play on the biggest international stage, proudly representing their country to the world.

🎾 Good luck in the Big Apple. The crowds at the US Open are known to be raucous, but sometimes all it takes is just one fan to turn a match. At this year’s tournament, that fan was named Eddie, an 11 year old from Brooklyn. Eddie sat courtside while American Tommy Paul fell to a two set disadvantage in the round of 64. Paul was able to turn the tide, winning a five setter.

His inspiration for the comeback? Eddie.

Paul said: "He wanted to be in my ear the whole match. It was actually really fun every time I went over there. He was encouraging me, I mean, damn near coaching me.”

Paul insisted Eddie be in attendance for his next match, a four set triumph over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Eddie was in the house, and Paul noticed his volume increasing after the American dropped the third set. Athletes are often superstitious, and at this point, Eddie had cemented his status as a good luck charm.

"I'm not playing a match here without him," Paul said. "He's coming back."

Paul finally bowed out of the tournament over the weekend, losing to fellow American Ben Shelton and bringing an end to a spontaneous and fun story. Maybe it’s for the best. What if Paul just never lost again? The middle school make-up assignments would’ve really piled up for young Eddie.

Sorry Teach, I’m gonna have to miss that history test. Tommy’s got the French Open next week, and then we get right into prepping for Wimbledon.

🍀 The Truth about mentors and proteges. You seldom see wholesome moments between athletes of different generations, with each believing their generation was “the toughest.” Paul Pierce was beloved by Celtics fans for over a decade. And as great as “The Truth” was, he looks to be replaced in the Celtics record books in most statistical categories by current Boston star Jayson Tatum.

Some might be threatened by that, but not Pierce.

It appears the retired star has instead become Tatum’s biggest hype man at offseason workouts, even wearing Tatum’s signature sneaker in the gym.

On the flip side, it wouldn’t be uncommon for a young superstar to think he has nothing to learn from an old dog, but that’s not Tatum, who still hasn’t done one thing that Pierce has: winning an NBA championship.

Well, two things, if you count Pierce’s *alleged* NBA Finals bathroom incident…