I’ve been to visit Palo Alto a couple of times in the last few years. It’s a beautiful place, one that seems almost idyllic. Mike and I found a few people living in the shadows of the grandeur of that place who appeared to be economically disadvantaged compared to their neighbors but for the most part the citizens live in beautiful homes with perfectly landscaped lawns and better than average cars parked in the driveways. Many of the residents work for one of the many tech companies in Silicon Valley earning salaries and bonuses that few of us ever have. Others are professors at Stanford University, lauded as the best in their respective fields. Everyone that I saw as we drove around town looked fit, attractive, and stylish. Lots of runners and bicycle riders exercised along the many pathways. Beautiful people sat in the sidewalk cafes. One would suspect that this is a place where people truly live the American dream. Continue reading “Trouble in Paradise”
My grandmother was an extraordinary gardener. People often said that she was capable of growing a lush living thing from a dead brown stick. She definitely had a green thumb. People often stopped in from of her home to look at the flowers that she had cultivated. A visit to her house almost always included a tour of her gardens. Amazingly it was not just a boring ritual but a great adventure seeing the wondrous things that she had done. She always claimed that plants given by a friend or family member were the best and the most likely to grow. I don’t know if she ever actually went to a plant nursery to purchase anything. Instead she transplanted this from one person and that from another. I know that she often gave things to my mother. When Mama was moving from our long time home in Overbrook she hastily dug up several specimens that had come from my grandmother and took them to her new house where they grew for years. 
As parents we often like to believe that we are the sole arbiters of our children’s lives but the reality is that it does take a village to accompany our young from the time that they are babies until they become adults. Even those who choose homeschooling inevitably must allow the influences of others to affect their youngsters. It’s a difficult situation for parents and takes a dramatic leap of faith and a heap of wisdom to navigate successfully. The trick is in knowing when to protect a child and when to let him/her get hurt. Anyone who has ever tried that knows that it is a daunting task. 
