PenPenWrites

A friend writes a letter of admission: "I go to my 45-year-old daughter’s house once a month to OPEN HER MAIL and sort it. Otherwise she wouldn't do it. I also help with her taxes. She doesn't seem to know how to organize her papers." Though she sees her daughter as a person in need of her mother's organizational talents, last year my friend had her eyes opened on that account:

She writes: "This past May I was hospitalized (11 days in ICU, 2 weeks in Rehab, home, then back to hospital for pneumonia, pleurisy and severe anemia.) Through it all, my daughter was more than in charge.  She started a new job the day before I went in, yet she took care of me AND my friends. She set up a web thing where they could talk to her and each other, and she kept them informed of my progress.  When I got better (it took 3 months), I could finally talk to my friends. After saying they were so glad to hear my voice, they all said, "You have a wonderful daughter.'"

She still helps with her daughter's mail and taxes–old habits die hard; both are used to them–but she has new respect for her daughter's managerial abilities. She's even let her plan a vacation they took together. It was, she says, the first time she let her plan anything.