something like a pith

Very few things will not change in the next ten years.

The things you most hope to change in another person will surely be among the few unchangeables. This, I am discovering is a good thing. On a tuesday morning when you eat at a restaurant called Two Umbrellas for the first time because they serve one-dollar breakfasts and you just found out, make sure you eat there regularly but remember how crushed you were when the Burger King Whopper went from 99 cents to being over two dollars over night. Also remember that the city has many secrets it is dying to let you in on: secrets like a smokey cafe or a shady afternoon park full of old regulars, wool caps and chess. And lastly remember that the grade school kids on the playground are always watching through the chain linked fences as you walk down the sidewalks partaking in the independence of grown up life. They would skip school to smoke a cigarette the grown up way you do.