“I don’t think we should move her. Let’s call the doctor and see if he’ll come to the house.” My parents were obviously very worried about the severe abdominal pain I was having and how sick I was. Even in the early 1960’s it was unusual for doctors to make house calls. I was fortunate that this doctor recognized over the phone the symptoms of an appendix that was threatening to burst. His visit turned into several more over the coming days. The antibiotics gradually settled

“Why is she swinging with just one arm? What’s wrong with her other arm?” A nurse friend of mine was enjoying her lunch break with me at the park. I suspected something wasn’t quite right with my daughter’s arm, but I thought it just needed a little time to heal. I was focused on my three-month-old baby and took her injury in stride. “How long has this been going on?” she persisted. “Oh, she slipped getting into bed a couple of nights ago and fell on her shoulder. It was only

“I can’t believe it’s still there! How could you after I told you I didn’t want to see it when I came home?” I stood there with shame and guilt all over me. My mom had been gone for three weeks in January visiting my grandfather in Iowa for his birthday. When she drove away with my little brother right after the New Year, her last words to me had been, “Get that tree down!” No use passing the blame off to my dad or even to my older sister who had enough stress with high schoo

“So how did you think my first year of teaching went? Any suggestions?” My young colleague was looking for my feedback now that the school year had ended and we were leaving for our summer break. I’d had a good view of his overall style and manner since we taught the two fourth grades as a team. He had experienced many of the pitfalls of a new teacher. However, he had a wonderful knowledge of his subject matter and conveyed it well. He had high expectations for classroom beha