And in addition, she speaks baby — My granddaughter Eva turns five this spring. Where we live this means she will go to kindergarten in September. She is more than ready. While her mother filled in the paperwork her four older siblings had all kinds of advice for her. One of the more pertinent ones was the…

An unpredictable variable of life — The bicycles were scattered across the grass until they got home from school. Then the boys began their riding up and down the driveway. Sometimes they jumped over ramps they built on the gravel. Mainly they tore like racers with the devil on their heels along the long path that…

Sometimes it’s just funny, not funny — He calls to ask me if I think his girlfriend’s face was bitten by a black widow or a brown recluse spider. I feel like saying, “Do I look like an arachnid expert?” Or a doctor for that matter. He says he’s going to take her to the hospital to…

Because I live in one — Franklin was afraid of the dark, which was a problem because he was a turtle. I am a human and afraid of boating. This is a problem because I live on one. If you have never read Franklin in the Dark by Paulette Bourgeois you have missed out on a…

I am just holding on, barely breathing — It’s been a bit over three months. And I miss my son. So very much. People think I am over it but I am not. I am still waiting for him to come back to me. To walk laughing towards me; tell me it is a massive joke and he’s…

It’s just not always true — Can we stop people from telling teenagers they can be whatever they want when they grow up? Or the well-intentioned folks who ask your kid when he’s going to get his driver's license when that’s not an option. …

How time has changed our response to the world — We passed the young couple on the beach as we floated by. They sat snuggled together on a blanket, a picnic spread around them. Her brown hair was pulled into a bun on top of her head, wool sweater trailed gently over the edge of her hands. Snug black leggings…

Do they have unwritten rules about team affection? — Do baseball players ask permission to pat each other’s butts on the way by? Or any other sport that has grown adults (or almost grown ones) who seem to be pretty touchy-feely on the field or rink or wherever they play. Kidding, not kidding. And I’m not talking about the…

Will AI influence how your grandchild is taught? Probably — In a shocking turn of events, students may be required to submit handwritten versions of their essays and assignments! This is at a time when some schools no longer teach children how to do cursive writing. Many districts gave schools the option of not teaching handwriting because it was seen…