I have reflected on my new-found appreciation of mushrooms and my relationships with people.
As a teenager (who leaned a bit towards the pious and liberal side), I had a stake president who I put in the same category as mushrooms. He was a far right-wing conservative with a military background and a fondness for sports analogies that I couldn’t relate to and a propensity to go 15-20 minutes over when he spoke at any church meeting. I felt like he was full of bravado and arrogance. I neither liked him nor thought to appreciate him for his mushroomness.
But, when I was sick in the hospital for six weeks, he made sure to visit me often.