Month: May 1999

Our first home had been on the market for two years for a good reason. Every time it rained, water poured through the sieve of a roof over the ancient kitchen. A great chunk of plaster and wall paper was missing from the wall beside the kitchen table. The appliances were a tiny ancient refrigerator…

The beat of “Pomp and Circumstance” as robed graduates march thrills me. I was thrilled three times last week. Friday morning the graduate of the day said he needed to buy a white shirt. I gave him money to buy one. That was the last I saw of his beaded face until his commencement from…

Our calendar for May overflows: Prom, Mother’s Day, a church musical, a week in Philadelphia at the International Science and Engineering Fair, high school awards day, plus four graduations in a week with company coming and going in cars and planes. We had no room for anything to go wrong for three weeks. The quote…

In September our 1993 mini-van became our first vehicle to roll over to 200,000. With as many miles as we drive in a year, it should have been inevitable. But it wasn’t. When we sold our factory ordered station wagon after 11 years, it had only had 195,000 miles. Our used compact car gathered another…

When we moved to El Dorado 17 years ago, I plopped my 1-year-old daughter in the baby seat of the store buggy and began loading in groceries. Mentally I tallied up my bill as I piled in groceries to avoid going over my budget. When the clerk told me how much I owed the total…