Growing up in Flossmoor, IL in the early 1970s, my brother, sister and I enjoyed the nearby park at Leavitt Avenue School. With a sheer slide of dizzying height, made of superheated metal; the rocketship monkey-bars set in concrete and a gravel launching pad; the quintessential sandbox shaded by a tree. But my favorite by far--and the most popular--was the dizzying and anachronistic merry-go-round. From lying flat in the middle, to sitting criss-cross-apple sauce with eyes closed and meditating. Leaning backwards, heads over-the-edge, running hard and leaping on last minute. And then spinning too fast, out of control, falling off the disc or stumbling dizzy to the grass.

But everything is bright in the rose-colored light of nostalgia. On day two of this summer, my 72 year old mom--who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis--broke her hip and elbow. So this summer has been filled with the type of parental care typical of middle-aged childhood: skilled nursing, financial planning, assisted living. I will say only this: the kind professionals at Lieberman Health Center on Gross Pointe Road in Skokie are worth their collective weight in gold, and I shall forever be indebted to them. As things currently stand, we’re looking for supportive living while she continues to re-gain her health.

My reading list was eclectic. I read Dot in the Universe by Lucy Ellmann, All the Wrong Questions 2 by Lemony Snicket, The Boy Kings of Texas by Domingo Martinez, B is for Bad Poetry by Pamela Russell, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling, and Louse Erdrich’s The Round House. Of these, I must say that the Russell and Snicket were my favorites, with Ellmann’s Dot as a close tie for third. But this was also a summer of reading with my 3rd grader and my kindergartener—Nancy Drew and Magic Tree House mysteries, respectively. Both project a calmer and more innocent America, a place of social grace and fair play where kindness matters, and magic exists. More than everything else, these books and those times with my kids were a respite.

Spinning toward kindergarten. John Henry (5) and Ella Louise (8) in Lorel Park, Morton Grove, days before the first day of school for John (who started at Elizabeth Meyer District 73.5) and Ella (who started 3rd grade (at Middleton Middle School)