Chapter 39: Continuing and Enduring to the End
“Everything has to come to an end, sometime,” said L. Frank Baum who wrote “The Wizard of Oz.” Mr. Baum’s famous story tells of Dorothy who is homesick for Kansas. He ends the story happily when, after many adventures, Dorothy wakes up in her own bed and says, “There’s no place like home.” Some endings are predictable. When you start a book, you know it will have a last page. When you begin a movie, you know it will have a final scene. Some endings are gradual like the changing of seasons and the almost imperceptible reality that today you are a day older than yesterday. “Everything has to come to an end, sometime,” including summer vacation. For some mothers of school-age children, the end of summer brings what could be called end-of-summer blues. These moms begin to feel gloomy as the fun and freedom of summer wind down. Summer is exhilarating for them. Other...