A recent panel of the daily comic strip The Lockhorns depicts the wife saying to the husband, with a knowing smile, “Of course I understand you, Leroy – what would you like to know?”

The natural restorative faculties are double-edged swords.  Although their natural tendency is to fight illness and infection, they can also bring about new harm.  Excessive fever and inflammation may cause organ damage and death.

So it went for years:  Every summertime when school was out, almost every day, the little girl ran down the hill to see my wife.  She taught the child how to bake and sweep a floor, showed her how to say grace before a meal, encouraged her to read and work hard at school, gave her snacks when she helped with the chores, and sat in the wicker chair and talked with her.

One of the more illuminating incidents of my life was to be asked to share a freshly baked cake from a wood-burning oven in a house with cardboard walls, cellophane windows, and a tarpaper roof.

My wife’s early experience of life was a good deal broader than mine.  We were visiting one of her childhood friends.