All in a Mother’s Day”

I used to think the hardest part of being a mother was the needing—needing me to feed them, bathe them, keep them healthy, educated, entertained.

Now I know the hardest part is the not needing, and when to know the difference.

My two children are about to graduate from childhood. The youngest will be 18 in the fall, and away at college. Her brother will turn 21 a few weeks earlier, and will likely remain at home.

His two college applications were rejected recently. He was judged on his academic record, which is less than stellar. If they had asked me I would have waxed poetic about his deep reserves of humor and intellect, his artistic eye, his magician’s touch as a film editor. But they didn’t ask me.

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Remove the cause—but not the symptom

“George Bush can’t be blamed for everything!” a letterwriter opines in these pages this week, responding to my previous column—and I have to admit he’s absolutely right. (Or as Dr. Furter might have said, “Maybe his reign isn’t really to blame…”)

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