The Human Race 600

I never could read a road map.  People suggested that I orient the map by holding it in the direction I was headed, but that didn't help.  It was a series of little letters and indecipherable lines, and I once went halfway across the state of Pennsylvania...

While they're very nice, flowers aren't necessary.
Nor are chocolates or even Tim Horton donuts!
Forget the gourmet meals, the diamonds, and the week-end getaways.

Someone asked me for advice last week.  Now, that might seem like small potatoes to some of you, but for me it's a large baked potato with butter AND sour cream.  Oh, I get asked for advice all the time, but it sounds like this:
My ride will be here in 30 seconds; I can't find my shoes!  Do you think we have to time to go to the mall and buy a pair?...

She says she wants to be a teacher, and we encourage her by saying,
"You'll never get a job."
To test her resolve, we suggested that that she help her brother through his homework last night: a task which typically exhausts us and makes him absolutely overwhelmed....