Lydia:

It's so true... I realize I don't have the energy anymore with my younger kids that I did with the older ones, including reading to them at night, etc. Some of it during The Family years was rather "forced", and reading them Mo Letters was pretty questionable fare (I was one of those who would sneak in wholesome kids books from the library under the guise of them being "nonfiction"), but the reading habit I think was a good one anyway.

CB, "aging gracefully"- there's a mouthful. If anyone knows a surefire way to do this, I think they could write a best seller. In my case, I really don't think it's a vanity thing- it's not my physical aging that gets me down nearly so much as not wanting to see family members and loved ones pass away, the regrets of things I have missed out on over the years both in and out of The Family, etc. etc.

But most of the time I am a very upbeat positive person- to the point that one of my co-worker friends sometimes teasingly refers to me as "Pollyanna"- so I guess it's just the recent spate of funerals that has set me on this "growing old" thread.

Laura

> How come as I've gotten older when I relax,
> my face sort automatically goes into a
> frown. I smile a lot, but the kids have told
> me that when I'm just spacing out, I'm
> frowning. I didn't even know it.

> Since they have said it, I've been trying to
> "retrain" my face!lol

> But maybe I'm more worn and tired then I
> think!

> I do come home exhausted from teaching, and
> still do cooking and help the kids getting
> them to bed.

> But I don't read with them like I used to do
> with the other kids, I feel pretty guilty
> about that.