Month: January 2002

Lake Woebegone, where all the children are above average, is not in Minnesota, but in Arkansas – where every nine weeks the news about schools overflows with the names of students on the honor roll – and every spring half a dozen students qualify to be valedictorian of Woebegone high school. Parents bust their buttons…

Sibling rivalry drove me to sign up for clarinet lessons. The rivalry hit the day my little sister dragged home a trombone almost as big as herself. My inborn competition blew away all the excuses I had given the previous year for not joining my brother in band. I stumbled my way through the squeaks…

It was a familiar scene at the house Tuesday when I walked in after work. Husband was working on his current project. Daughter bent over the sewing machine. A son sat in front of the computer checking his e-mail. It was time for supper and nothing was started. Not to worry, super-Mom was home with…

I discovered the way to give grandchildren exactly what they want: Take them shopping as I did just before Christmas. They held and studied several toys, lost interest and allowed me to reshelve them. I said we couldn’t buy everything, they had to choose. My daughter had the almost 3-year-old grandson with her. I had…