There's an old Yiddish adage - "Man plans and God laughs" (it sounds better in Yiddish). How often we are reminded of it. So it was last weekend. We were all set for a long-planned trip to Boston to visit family and attend a charity event. The phone rang on Sunday morning at 4. "Want to come to Brooklyn to babysit for your grandson?""We're going to Boston in a few hours.""No you're not. You're coming to Brooklyn. We're going to the hospital. It's time."There's not a lot of tr...

It was time for our grandson, Jackson, to take his nap. Our daughter-in-law picked him up saying “It’s time for me to put Jackson down.” A strange choice of words. While in context they made sense, they still struck me as odd. In veterinary circles, the words “put down” certainly convey a very different message. In social settings “putting someone down” takes on yet another meaning. I guess it’s all in the context. ...

  Rocking chairs belong in baby nurseries. I hadn't given this much thought until last weekend when we were baby-sitting for our grandson Jackson and he needed to take a nap. It wouldn't have happened without the rocking chair in his room. As I sat holding Jackson and rocked, I was soothed with memories of rocking my children in the rocking chairs in their bedrooms so many years ago....