Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

Noreen and I were nothing if not enterprising in finding ways to challenge ourselves when our children were young and we were college-educated-women who stayed home to tend the hearth in the late nineteen-sixties. We thought we were liberated, but in reality we envied those women who came later.

We also turned to various creative or intellectual projects to fill our time and stimulate our brains. One Christmas we made placemats with matching napkins for our Mothers. They had a holly leaf motif, if my memory is still accurate. And they turned out more successfully than the candle experiment we’d tried at an earlier holiday.

Other projects Noreen and I also seriously attempted included sewing lessons, crochet lessons, classes in the Dewey Decimal System, and decoupage. The sewing lessons get an A, since both Noreen and I are capable of making clothing, draperies, and other accessories today. This is not to say that we still do; it just means we can. The crochet lessons fall into the same category. We can both yarn up a storm, and we talk about returning to the satisfaction of crocheting when we are old women together.

As for the Dewey Decimal System, its value has changed with the onset of computer file catalogs, and our plans to become school librarians are permanently on hold. It’s the same for decoupage. We were fairly good at it, but nobody seems to be doing it anymore. However, when the revival occurs, we’re ready.