I believe in the "50-percent theory". Half the time things are better than normal; the other half, they are worse. I believe life is a pendulum¹（钟摆） swing. It takes time and experience to understand what normal is, and that gives me the perspective to deal with the surprises of the future.

Let's benchmark the parameters²: Yes, I will die. I've dealt with the deaths of both parents, a best friend, a beloved boss and cherished pets. Some of these deaths have been violent, before my eyes, or slow and agonizing³（苦恼的） . Bad stuff, and it belongs at the bottom of the scale.

Then there are those high points: romance and marriage to the right person; having a child and doing those Dad things like coaching my son's baseball team, paddling around the creek⁴ in the boat while he's swimming with the dogs, discovering his compassion⁵ so deep it manifests even in his kindness to snails⁶, his imagination so vivid he builds a spaceship from a scattered⁷ pile of Legos.

But there is a vast meadow of life in the middle, where the bad and thegood flip-flop acrobatically. This is what convinces me to believe in the 50-percent theory.

One spring I planted corn too early in a bottomland so flood-prone thatneighbors laughed. I felt chagrined⁸ at the wasted effort. Summer turned brutal-- the worst heat wave and drought in my lifetime. The air-conditioner died,the well went dry, the marriage ended, the job lost, the money gone. I wasliving lyrics⁹ from a country tune¹⁰ -- music I loathed¹¹. Only a surging Kansas City Royals team, bound for their first World Series, buoyed¹²（支撑，鼓励） my spirits.

Looking back on that horrible summer, I soon understood that all succeeding good things merely offset¹³ the bad. Worse than normal wouldn't last long. I am owed and savor¹⁴ the halcyon¹⁵（宁静的） times. They reinvigorate me for the next nasty surprise and offer assurance that I can thrive. The 50 percent theory even helps me see hope beyond my Royals' recent slump¹⁶, a field of struggling rookies sown so that some year soon we can reap an October harvest.

Oh, yeah, the corn crop? For that one blistering¹⁷（猛烈的，极热的） summer, the ground moisture was just right, planting early allowed pollination¹⁸ before heat,withered the tops, and the lack of rain spared the standing¹⁹ corn from floods. That winter my crib overflowed²⁰ with corn -- fat, healthy three-to-a-stalk ears filled with kernels²¹ from heel to tip -- while my neighbors' fields yielded only brown, empty husks.

Although plantings past may have fallen below the 50-percent expectation, and they probably will again in the future, I am still sustained by the crop that flourishes during the drought.