Commentary

Our old lawn mower lost its drive and its edge and, even with all the sharpening I could do, has pretty much been beating the grass to death for the past several years rather than actually cutting it. No, I think for the last year or two it’s just been sc

Now that Emily had permission to go to church, we had to get her ready to attend. We called in reinforcements for the task.

The greatest part about a two year old’s psyche is that with all this lack of inhibition and blatant disregard for social norms, comes a wonderland of strengths that tend to dull with age.

Remember Charlie Bucket, the kid who found the golden ticket in his candy bar and won the whole factory, Oompa Loompas and all? That’s me. I’m Charlie Bucket. I got to spend spent seven hours hanging out with international bestselling author, Anne Perry.

Emily became a wonderful part of our lives. But when she asked me if she could go to church with us, I knew it was time to visit her home.

I was 20 yrs old, and 6 yr old Emily became like a little sister. One morning she came dragging a little bicycle into the driveway. “A friend of mine found this bike and said I could have it,” she said. “Can you help me fix it?”

It’s four o’clock in the morning at FASO and I’m writing notes for this on the back of a photograph because I’ve fallen prey to FOPAFASO (“Freezing Our Pies At Fathers And Sons Outing”) Syndrome, making it utterly impossible to sleep.

And who better to help plan the Mother's Day program than Yours Truly, a seasoned veteran of 49 Mother’s Days, 26 of them as an actual, verifiable mother.

“What the *#&@ are you doing?” Mostly I had only heard that sort of language from men. But when I turned around, to my surprise, I found myself looking into the face of a skinny, little six-year-old girl.