Vera was fidgeting with a bit of TWINE. Her long hair recently SHORN, she looked a little vulnerable. Like maybe new school year plus new hair was just a little too much. On a HUNCH, Vera had saved a place at the LUNCH table for her best friend, Paul. Where was he? She really hoped that she and Pauly had the same lunch period. Opening her bag, she pulled out some carrots and sighed. The noise of the cafeteria was ramping up and she felt like a little lonely island. Just when she wanted hide from all these faces and noise, a thump made her look up: Paul sat down. He took one look at the carrots and snorted. “Got those nasty baby ones again, huh?” Vera waved one at him, saying in a mock announcer’s voice, “Bunny bites: the favorite of rabbits and children alike. Have a MUNCH and you’ll be right as PUNCH. Don’t delay, grab a BUNCH today!” Paul rolled his eyes, “lucky for you, I am going to
ignore that bit of rubbish and focus on my very excellent peanut butter sandwich. Wait – do you have pimento cheese? Trade you!” Vera just grinned

Georg’ann

As a very small child, Heidi liked to get up early, grab provisions, and head out the front door for adventure. When her mother woke she often FOUND a trail that lead her directly to her darling daughter, still in footed pjs or a cozy nightshirt, gazing at bugs up close or making potions out of weeds and puddle water in the mostly near vicinity of their house.

Occasionally Brenda was unsettled by the distances Heidi traveled. She had a disquieting HUNCH that a 4 year old roaming the neighborhood didn’t reflect well on her parenting.

Luckily Heidi liked to MUNCH dry cereal right out of the box. Her puffy little hands could not hold much and with every bit that made it to her mouth, there was a BUNCH that fell to the floor, the steps, the sidewalk, thus making her easy to track. Whenever Brenda located Heidi she always asked about whatever it was she was doing, and then would take Heidi’s hand and suggest they go home for a proper breakfast.

There was no thought of attempting to thwart Heidi’s early rising explorations anymore than there was an expectation that Brenda should manage to wake in time to provide parental oversight of some kind.

The gift of Brenda’s parenting style, if one cared to give it that generous a characterization, was that it allowed them each to be their own person, to enjoy their own habits. Heidi learned the gift of independence, exploration, capability.

In later years she struggled a bit in partnerships, being somewhat laissez faire in tending to details of accountability. The freedoms she expected and allowed were often taken as disinterest, to which she could only respond with a childlike sense of bewilderment.

Heather