Dear Folks, It's Wednesday again and that means take-out-the-trash day because tomorrow is when the garbage trucks come around and pick up the trash. My neighbor Dawn showed up as usual to haul my trash and recycle bin out to the road for me and tonight she brought along her daughter Heather who is 17 years old and her son Jamie who just turned 10. They all knew what needed to be done and took everything out to the road. We had our usual chat together. Dawn told me another chapter of her dismal past of being verbally and physically abused as a child and told me how she was still trying to cope with the aftermath of it. But at the same time young Jamie piped up and told me that he wanted to be a mechanical engineer when he grew up. Wow, to think that a kid that age would set such a goal for him. Then I turned to Heather and asked her what her goal is. She told me she wanted to be a director. Well, I had to prod her as to what that would entail. She told me that she had a taste of the theatre in high school and what she wanted to be was a director of a play or some such. Then all four of us got into the subject of what was being taught in the school system nowadays. Both Heather and Jamie were only too willing to tell me all about the subjects they were taking and of course Dawn put in her own two cents. Oh my what a marvelous experiencing listening to the children telling me about how they felt about teachers and what they were teaching them. Frankly, some of what Heather told me sounded like a horror story inasmuch as she was being taught about witches and covens and the dark side that goes along with it. Even Jamie piped up that by the same token, the school system had banned such books as the Harry Potter series. Go figure. After we had been standing around in my kitchen for awhile Jamie made himself comfortable sitting in my chair up at the kitchen table, then I had to sit in my motorized wheelchair because my legs were giving out and then Heather made herself comfortable in another kitchen chair. And we talked and talked some more. Dawn told me about what she and her husband had just accomplished regarding rearranging the wall between the bathroom and their bedroom. Both Jamie and Heather then added their own two cents regarding the small size of their own two bedrooms and Heather pitifully told me that she didn't even have a bed to sleep on. Well I didn't buy that for a minute and when Jamie and Dawn piped up about the subject, I learned that it was at Heather's insistence that her regular bed be removed and replaced with a futon plus computer desk. And when the subject came up about painting their rooms, Jamie piped up that he wanted his bedroom painted in purple, blue, black and white, his favorite colors. This evening was a very special one for me. I've never seen Jamie so animated and talkative and so was Heather. During all of our exciting discussions, every once in awhile Jamie would ask his mom if they could go home so that he could practice his viola. And then every once in awhile Heather would ask her mom whether it was ok if she skipped school tomorrow. Dawn could only pry out of her that the reason she wanted to skip school was because of her teacher. However, when I really pinned Heather down, she told me that her teacher was a substitute and the subject he was teaching was "Study Hall." She added that she really needed to take the time off because she had an exciting project ahead of her for her art class. It had to do with something about putting together a mobile and/or something about the Navy. Of course I let her know that I was here to help her. After they had been here for 1-1/2 hours they finally went home and I was left with such a warm feeling. I'm 73 years old and was born around the same time as Dawn's mother. Therefore I'm old enough to be the kids' grandmother. And that's the feeling I have about Dawn and her family. Maybe I'm a surrogate mother for Dawn what with my hearing her out about her personal problems and maybe I'm a surrogate grandmother to Heather and Jamie. Maybe a grandmother they had never known. I maybe Auntie Vee to my niece and great-Auntie Vee to my grandnieces and grandnephew and maybe a great-great-Auntie Vee to my gr-grandnieces and nephews, but at this time there is the possibility that I'm Grandma to Dawn's kids and Mom to Dawn. Such a great feeling. vee