Security

My boys are in Seattle. My daughter and her children are here in Bloomington-Normal. If only my one grandson could be with his father, we would all be in two cities. That gives me a sense of security I do not understand.

As I have said before, when I was a child I loved traveling with my family in a car at night. It made me feel so content, so safe, as if anything could happen but we would be okay. And when other little girls dreamed of horses I dreamed of a large mechanical elephant, big enough to hold our whole family on top and store whatever we needed in his belly. I would make him move by moving levers attached to his front legs.

I think I've always loved small compact places. Cubbyholes when I played dolls. Hollows in the bushes when we played house outside. My luxury studio apartment. Add the ones I love and the essentials, and I sleep well.

This is as close as we all get anymore and that's okay. I wanted my children to be lovers of life, adventurers -- people open to new ideas and possibilities.

It's the quality time together that counts. Carving out spaces with each child watching them do the same, may be a big part of our legacy, close encounters of the most precious sort.