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Work is a Four-Letter Word
“Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” Robert Frost Getting kids to learn to work was one of my most frustrating of all parental responsibilities. The truth is that I am astonished all my children are employed at the moment—well, mostly all, anyway. You’d think…
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The Holiday Return
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost For lots of people, returning gifts (which don’t fit, turn out to be duplicates, or are just dumb) is a holiday nightmare. For Son #4 and I, it’s become a class of entertainment all its own….
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Not-So-Silent Night
“Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” Robert Frost We never had much luck with Christmas trees. They were always falling over, or losing their needles, or being attacked by three-year olds. But my husband kept trying. One year he wired the top of the…
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The Day the Bells Rang
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost Daughter #2 told me yesterday that for her, it didn’t really feel like Christmas yet. I’m old. I’ve seen a lot of holidays come and go, but one or two stand out. Not because of lights…
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The Oldest Child Syndrome
Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost Being the oldest child in a large family is an uphill battle. Thus far, Daughter #1 has handled it with admirable aplomb. Her next younger sibling was born when she was only 18 months old, so she picked…
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My Father Was a Military Man
Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost Veteran’s Day, November 11, 2019 My dad was a military man. I grew up answering the phone, “This is Captain/Major/Lt. Colonel Leavitt’s quarters. How can I help you?” Often it was an airman far away from home hoping…
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The Basketball Shoes
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost One thing I never anticipated from my rowdy sons was tenderness, but it pops up in the most unexpected moments. Son #5 is still my most adventurous child. He’s not afraid of much. In fact, after…
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Happy Halloween?
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost I’ve never been a big fan of Halloween. I don’t like either black or orange; I find dressing up annoying; and even as a kid, I didn’t like candy much. (Although I was very fond of…
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Antelope Island
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost Son #1 was born with amblyopia—lazy eye. That meant that his left eye didn’t track with his right. Because the right eye was stronger, it took on the vision for both eyes. Without intervention, the left…
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The Reptile Lover
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost I married a man who loves reptiles. As a kid in Houston, Texas, he caught turtles in the bayou near his house—lots of them. They lived in a Walmart swimming pool in his back yard until…
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The Beautiful Child
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost Daughter #2 was a beautiful baby. People frequently stopped me on the street or in the store to comment on her thick curls, her impossibly long eyelashes, and her luminous dark eyes. When I brought her…
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The Lover of Peas
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost Regardless about which side of the nature vs. nurture argument you fall on, children prove that nature wins. Some come with such strong personalities that even in the womb there are disturbing signs of future temperaments….
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The Rough Start
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost Son #2 had a rough start. He was born in May three weeks early. We had to drive through a blizzard that dumped almost 6 inches of snow in Cedar City to get to the hospital….
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Larry Bird
Home is the place where, if you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost One afternoon a couple of my younger kids came racing into the house to announce that a bird was in the tree in the front yard. Glancing at the window, I pointed out that lots of…
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The Swaying Ceiling
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost When my husband and I had been married about five years, we moved into a new and growing subdivision in Kearns. It was filled with young families. To remind ourselves what it was like to spend…
