Only two of the kids have stayed local. One landed two states away and bought a house. Two others did the same in the heart of Texas.

One of the two who’ve remained in the area has four of the grand children of whom one just switched positions from being the baby of the family to a big sister.

The children have chores and recently those chores were upgraded so they all have new responsibilities in the house. With the upgrade came the assignment that Cecilia was ecstatic to tell me about. So I asked her if I could watch as she did the work.

We headed for the kitchen where I helped her drag a chair to the work location. Already on the counter top was the dishwasher basket with spoons and forks and butter knives for her to place in the drawer trays.

I’ve noticed that although I visit every few days I can see improvements in all the children and I don’t mean improvements from some sorry state toward ‘better’, but just honest gains. They’re good kids through and through.

The gains are most obvious with Cecilia because at three years of age, she’s picking up basic stuff particularly in use of language where I happily can understand 80% of what she’s trying to say.

Her handling of the chore was perfect and her attitude about it was delightful. She was proud to have the responsibility which she clearly owns.