Hey, thanks to my wonderful brother, I finally got two of my Dell's networking. It sure is nice to be able to download a page and read it while another one downloads on the other computer. I'm saving so much time on my slow dial-up internet connection I hardly have time to play Spider Solitaire between pages anymore (although I have graduated to the difficult version--I can win one game in 20).

Anyway, here's a poem I wrote about children:

Life’s Spin

My child’s a button spinning on two strong cords,

Balanced in the middle, alive with motion,

Set in place at conception by loving parents.

Cords which twist together, untwist, twist again

In a pattern of give and take so delicately balanced

That the slightest miscalculation can check the

Finely tuned orchestration of its spin.


As parents we may think we can set life spinning

And then cut it free to go on its own,

But the cords are forever threaded through.

Cords that may lengthen, stretch, thin, or even break.

Cords, nonetheless, which are necessary

For the balance of a child’s spin into adulthood.


Keep the give and take balanced,

So that your child can spin upright,

With a sense of his own independence,

Yet securely held in check by wise and timely tugs.