KATHRYN R. BIEL: AUTHOR

1.   Don't have to make lunches 2.   Alarm is not set 3.   Freckles 4.   Most mornings, there is no rush to get up and showered and out of the house 5.   Listening to my kids have time to play together 6.   Jake finally has time to open and play with gifts he received for his birthday in February 7.   Cold beer tastes better on a hot day 8.   Fresh cucumbers 9.   Flip-flop tan lines 10. Having the time to read Harry Potter with the kids 11.  Floating in a cool pool on a hot day 12.  Watching my daughter "puppy paddle" 13.  Watching my son swim underwater when a year ago, he wouldn't get his head wet 14.  How a sun-kissed face makes my kids' eyes even bluer 15.  Reading book after book 16.  All four of us sitting in the hammock, watching birds on the feeder and shapes in the clouds 17.  Doing homework is optional, and makes us feel good when we do it 18.  Watching our garden grow 19. ...

I have some vague memories of nursery school.  Mostly, they involve the big log cabin in the room, the dress up corner, and the little tupperware pitchers on the table that held fruit punch that had once been in large cans and opened with a church key.  I'm pretty sure I liked school.  My teachers were Miss Carol and Miss Liz.  Facebook has helped to keep in contact with those friends I first met at the ripe old age of three. Fast forward to the next century, and my own child started nursery school (but now we call it preschool).  Jake started at Calvary Methodist when Sophia was one month old.  The first few times I took him to school, my dad came over and stayed with Sophia.  First day of 3 year old preschool.  September  11, 2007 His first day of school, I made it to the car before weeping.  I'm pretty sure I was not the only parent crying in the parking lot.  He was fine.  Possibly overwhelmed, but fine.  At ...