“Just like Uncle Frank,” lisped our three-year-old daughter. “WHAT?” As her father dug the shreds out of her mouth, Carrie Anne couldn’t believe we were so alarmed at her choice of tobacco products. Apparently she’d been closely watching Bill’s elderly relative as he periodically would shove another bunch of brown into the pocket of his cheek. She also saw him spit into the coffee can, but thankfully that wasn’t the source of her supply. She had followed each bit of tobacco t

“Getting a little short down south, don’t you think?” I was mortified! Our junior high assistant principal, the one in charge of school discipline, had singled me out in the hallway. I only hoped he wouldn’t make me kneel down in front of him to see if my hem touched the wooden floor boards. Giving him a wide-eyed “I don’t think so!” I quickly got lost in the crowd of teens changing classes. But I made a mental note to check that skirt in the mirror one more time when I got h

“Mom! Dad! I got the job!” Our son proudly announced his first summer employment position. Because of his love for golf, he had decided to see what might be available at the nearby golf course. Of course we were thrilled for him and asked what his job would be. “Cart Relocation Technician!” was his reply. It didn’t take me too many seconds to realize this was a glorified title for “cart boy.” But if it made him feel important, I wasn’t going to step on his youthful pride. He

“Oh, Christine! This isn’t how I imagined my retirement years would be. I was hoping to travel and enjoy my life, but all of that is gone.” My dear friend was lamenting to me during a recent visit to her nursing care facility. She is two years younger than I am, and she relished reminding me of that fact every year as new birthdays arrived. But now her life was ebbing away because of a rare neurological disease. What was I supposed to say? Fortunately she has a wonderful walk

“Just keep a lookout for stumps and snags along the shoreline!” My friend’s last warnings, shouted to me as we took off down the backwaters of the river-sometimes-lake, gave me little comfort. Dropping my left ski, I snugged my foot into the back binding, and prayed for the best. I was used to waterskiing on the wide-open surfaces of our Northern Michigan lake where the only danger was an occasional buoy for anchoring boats… boats I could clearly see and avoid. My biggest pro