On the links

A comedian named Tom Dreesen, whose job it was to serve as the opening act for Frank Sinatra for many a night in Las Vegas, reported that one night, he and Sinatra went in a hotel lobby late after a show when a lady approached them, saying that her husband was hopelessly ill and that any kindness from "The Chairman Of The Board" might just be what it took to make his spirits improve.

Without a word, the singer removed his cufflinks and handed them to the lady, who was, in Dreesen's telling, overjoyed at the gift. Sinatra sent her on her way with all best wishes for her husband.

Sinatra and Dreesen

As they left, Dreesen says he asked Sinatra why he had done that. "Those are your favorite cufflinks - you had them custom made."

Sinatra said he had other cufflinks, and if this was something that would make a fan and her husband happy, it was the least he could do.

And then he, Frank Sinatra, late of Hoboken and the world, said words I will never forget. Dreesen says Frank said, “Tommy, if you possess something that you can’t give away, then you don’t possess it. It possesses you. Someday I'll be gone and someone else will have those cufflinks. For now, I'm just renting them."

And all those priceless objects that dot our homes - the set of dishes, the silverware, and the Civil War pistol I inherited from my father's father's father's father - will not leave earth when we do. Someone else will wind up treasuring them.

For now, we're just renting them.