"David? It's Aunt Millie..."

These types of entries are my favorite. Totally precipitated by a real event, in this case, a phone call from David's 90 year old Aunt Millie. After ninety years, Aunt Millie has had her share of life experiences and her glass is still half full. David maintains that she is still the best joke-teller around and, while she doesn't give a rip about LEDs or the technology that David and his partner, Mike, have worked so hard to incorporate in the Mr Beams products, she certainly appreciates the lights for their usefulness and the security they afford her; her sister, David's grandmother, was the inspiration for the Mr Beams lights after she fell going to the bathroom at night. I think the best way to capture Aunt Millie's spirit is simply to present her phone message verbatim.

"David, It's Aunt Millie from Florida (as opposed to Aunt Millie in...St Louis? Chicago?). Everything is fine (which we know already since she is able to use the phone). Listen, David, that great night light that you sent me last year. I love it. Every night when I get up to go to the bathroom and I love it. And then it turns off automatically just when I get back into bed. It's so terrific. I tell all of my friends about my nephew the inventor who has these lights that light up automatically. But something is wrong--it doesn't go on any more. Do I have to change the batteries? All of my friends ask me about it. It's terrific--but I want it to work again."

I love the Aunt Millies in the world. She called first thing in the morning--the early bird and all that. Clearly, she'd been thinking about her light and couldn't wait to catch David. We all need Aunt Millie to keep us inspired. To teach us hope, wisdom and humor. To teach us how to respect and care for one another and to remind us that we need to help those who need us. The happy ending is that Aunt Millie plopped a new set of batteries in her Stick Anywhere Night Light and she'll be able to navigate safely to the bathroom for another year's worth of night.

Mr Beams products last approximate 12-18 months on a new set of batteries under normal usage. The remote control options employed by one of the Spotlight products and the Path Lights contribute to slightly lower life ratings, due to the radio-frequency feature. Generally, you can expect a minimum of approximately 4,000 activations per product. All Mr Beams products are IP44 rated for indoor/outdoor use. To learn more, visit www.mrbeams.com.