I remember my mother’s bread pudding.
I remember it warm out of the oven, with a buttery smell that filled the house.
She had special dish she baked it in along with a pan that she always put underneath.
She put water in the pan, enough to cover the bottom, before placing the dish inside.

I never asked her why she put the dish in a pan with water before putting it in the oven.
I never asked her for the bread pudding recipe.
I was too young to think that having her recipe was important.
She died when I was fifteen and her recipe was never known.

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I cannot imagine that anyone is a fan of washing windows.
Fan or not, it needs to be done.
Sometimes even when the windows are clean, they still look dirty.
Sometimes the outside have splotches of hard water stains that refuse to disappear.

Window panes that should be transparent have water marks that refuse to go away.
Lack of transparency may be frustrating when it comes to window washing.
Lack of transparency is equally frustrating when it comes to real life.
Some wear and tear marks are a good thing.

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We all played the game as children.
Usually the one at the head of the line was chosen.
The others line up behind that person.
The person at the head of the line moves every which way; the others have to mimic him.

Follow The Leader.
A game that is part of most everyone’s childhood.
A game that is as popular as, Mother, May I and Red Light, Green Light.
The rules of Follow The Leader were not terribly difficult.

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The story I read encouraged me.
The follow-up reports that I read disturbed me.
I had to sort through the range of feelings I had concerning the story.
I had to put it all in perspective.

A seventeen-year-old Florida man was being arrested.
This young man had previous arrests for criminal mischief and burglary.
He was being booked for burglary again as this story unfolded.
This particular burglary was a parole violation.

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When you are the oldest of five children, you have an interesting place in the family.
When two of your siblings are brothers, you learn to appreciate all sorts of things.
Games become a competition between the boys and the girls.
Action figures and superheroes take on new meanings.

It was a movie with action figures that started it all.
Six main characters, all named and suited with a different a color.
My children knew the characters; my sons had the action figures.
They all wanted to see the movie.

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I never imagined it could be so much fun.
The delivery came to our garage.
The old one was put out near the curb on bulk pick-up day.
The new one was humming quietly in our kitchen.

The refrigerator box proved to be a welcome addition to my children’s play.
Much taller than the oldest child, it was the perfect house.
It was the perfect castle.
It was easily decorated but that is where the decisions needed to be made.

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We were going to the farmer’s market to find all sorts of fresh, organic food.
We were walking parallel to each other on opposite sides of the car.
Two little boys were accompanying her.
The oldest, obviously the line leader, had already reached the curb.

The youngest was struggling
He kept tripping on his laces.
His mom told him to turn around so she could tie them a bit tighter.
By now, the car between us was gone and I looked down.

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Everywhere you look they are on sale.
By the price reductions alone, you know that the season is almost over.
Soon, we will be saying goodbye to summer and hello to fall.
In the meantime, clearance sales are everywhere you look.

Barbecue things, picnic items, patio furniture, and lawn chairs all reduced for a quick sale.
The item that people paid full price for, just a few months ago, is now almost half price.
There it was, the last in a line.
Only one of two that were left looked as I remembered.

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Back when I was in college, I worked for a bank.
I was a bank teller.
I also settled the ATM machines after hours with a small group of people.
It was the perfect job to have while I was in school.

I continued to work for a short time after we were first married.
I thought it would be very easy to find a job in the area where we would be moving.
The bank I worked for had a “sister” bank that had branches near our apartment.
The year we got married, the economy was not very strong and they were not hiring.

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