This was in the Napa Valley Register on Monday, Aug 13, 2007 by Ev Parker..

“Brooklyn, California”

I got a call the other day from a Napa friend named Ray Welch who, with his wife Mary, owns and operate Children’s Cottage, where my grandsons Robbie and Phil in their earlier years had lots of fun and learned a few things along the way.

His call permitted me to congratulate Ray and Mary for opening their second Cottage, on Lincoln Avenue near Kinko’s, an establishment that will feature the care and nurturing of infants and children up to 6 years of age. I wished them lots of luck and success.

While Ray thanked me for the good wishes, he said he had another matter on mind. It was about a great lady from Brooklyn, N.Y., and now Napa, who was a terrific volunteer at his East Avenue location. Ray said that Dorothy Lo Bianco would very much like to meet the guy whose columns she reads, the guy who writes with a Nuu Yawwk flavor.

It occurred to me that Brooklynites suddenly have been popping up in old Napa town, in a state that as far as I know has no town with a name even close to Brooklyn.

Last week, Napan Vic Chiarello, who I learned came from Coney Island, chided me for my mentioning that a high school chum, Julius La Rosa, hit gold with his “That’s Amore.’” Vic pointed out that Dino owned that song with his favorite singer Julius La Rosa hitting the jackpot with “Hey Compare.’” Vic was right!

A few weeks before that, another Napan, Bruce Lederer, a retired Brooklyn attorney, told me he was from Flatbush, was a lifelong Dodger fan and that he formerly had an office on Court Street in downtown Brooklyn. I told Bruce my late brother-in-law, Tom Burnett, also had his office on Court Street and in a one-in-three million shot (the borough’s population), I learned that Bruce and Tom once shared a suite. It sure is a small world!

My wife Jeanette is another Brooklyn girl from Flatbush, and our dear friend Rita Guthrie came from Greenpoint, not far from the Navy Yard where this Queens guy once walked a beat.

So of course I wanted to meet Dorothy Lo Bianco and add her name to my growing list of Napans who were born and brought up in “The Borough of Churches.” On a recent Tuesday afternoon, that meeting took place at the Cottage on East Avenue in Alta Heights.

I knew immediately that I was in the right place with the right woman when Dorothy, a smiling and sparkling lady, opened our conversation with, “Would you care for some cake and cawfee?” Her accent was pure Brooklyn and I was home again for just a little while.

Dorothy Lo Bianco described her assignments three days a week at the Cottage, and they were legion. She assists teachers in preparing snacks for the children, serves lunches, cleans up, places mats on the auditorium floor for the children’s naps, oversees playground activity and even washes clothing — and all this, gratis!

When I asked Dorothy where she came from, her first response was just one word, “Brooklyn.” Funny thing about that, but when you ask someone from Queens (my county) where they come from, you’ll get Astoria, Forest Hills, Flushing, Jamaica. Ridgewood or Glendale. But ask a guy or gal from the once-upon-a-time home of “Dem Bums — duh Brooklyn Dodgers” and the responses will always be just “Brooklyn … Yuh gotta problem wit dat, pal?”

Dorothy recalled her schooling in the Red Hook section of the borough, near the Gowanus Canal, and her education from grade school to college — all near her Brooklyn home.

Her mom had nine children. She was the middle child, so hard work wasn’t unfamiliar to her as she pitched in with her siblings to put food on the family table. In the early days of data processing, when computers took up most of the space in a large room, she specialized in that field and made scores of dear friends at upscale businesses like Germaine Montiel and Tuvaschie, big names in the field of perfume and cosmetics.

Dorothy also recalled her “salad days” during World War II, when summer block parties were seemingly run on every street in the borough. She remembered Charlie and Maye, who ran an ice cream parlor specializing in egg creams and malteds and let working local young residents run up a tab. Oh, and let’s not forget those German bakeries, whose crullers and crumb cake melted in your mouth. The thought occurred as I listened that I had been there and done that!

One day for Dorothy, time and circumstance came into play. Dorothy, who had married, found herself a single mother with a 3-year-old son she loved dearly. At the urging of a former work friend living in Pennsylvania, she moved to the Keystone state, but in time she realized that the winters in her new town were just as cold and snowbound as were her dear old Brooklyn streets.

At the urging of another dear friend and former workmate, she and her then 10-year-old son moved all the way west and found their paradise in Napa, a town nestled in a beautiful valley.

Dorothy Lo Bianco said that she was here to stay and for a very good reason, which has little to do with the wonderful weather and the much slower pace she enjoys. She told me that her son, now a grown man, lives in not-so-far-away Danville, and he has a wife and three daughters whom grandma loves dearly.

Dorothy capped off our conversation with a smile as she said, “I have my dear memories and I have my now, and my heart will always be in Brooklyn, California.”

Ev Parker can be reached at evjenpar@mailbug.com or 224-9956.

Many Napa County child care providers are facing challenges from current interpretations of Community Care Licensing regulations. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to open home day cares and child care centers in the state of California.
Part of the problem is that a new scarcity of money in the state of California means fewer Licensing Program Analysts going out into the field, and the ones that do may be overworked and under-trained. Unlike the teachers in child care who are required to have extensive training in child development, even a most basic Child-Family-Community course is not required to become an analyst who is then assigned responsibility for evaluating facilities which operate day care programs for children.
The fact that the regulations governing child care providers are open to different interpretations is another major factor in problems with the licensing agency. For example, if a teacher bends down to tie a child’s shoelace on the playground, they may be cited for lack of supervision because they were not watching all of the children all of the time. If all the children are sleeping on their mats at nap time and one gets up to go to the bathroom the same lack of supervision issue can be used against the child care provider. If a teacher is wiping down a table after lunch with simple green non-toxic cleaner and she turns her back to answer a child’s question, the center may be cited for lack of supervision as well as having “toxins” within reach of children.
Violations similar to these examples were recently given to Children’s Cottage pre-school on East Avenue in Napa. The violations are being appealed, but every parent currently enrolled now and going to enroll for the next year must be told about these citations.
When situations like this get out of hand, an atmosphere of fear and anxiety is created at child care centers. This month a licensing analyst paid an unannounced visit to our preschool. With the recent experience of being cited for lack of supervision fresh in their minds, 2 teachers in our large pre-kindergarten classroom were afraid to have one of them leave the classroom and run outside to the playground to pick up a child’s lunch that was accidentally left outside. They made the child a new lunch inside the classroom rather than take the chance of getting a citation for lack of supervision.
Common sense says that you meet the needs of the child in front of you. You tie their shoelaces if they are untied instead of being afraid that a licensing analyst is watching you and ready to write a citation for lack of supervision.
Another problem area is going through the long tedious task of trying to even get a license to open a home daycare or child care center in California. As an example, in June 2007 Children’s Cottage purchased an already licensed center at 780 Lincoln Avenue in Napa. The licensing application was submitted the month earlier. The licensing agency took 9 months going over and over the application. We did not actually get our license until February 2008 and it was backdated to August 2007.
I know of a woman at our church in town who tried for many many months to open a child care center at the church. It was so tedious and difficult that she gave up in frustration. Another friend of mine tried to open a home day care and kept going back and forth with licensing. After a year she gave up, almost losing her house in the process.
In November 2007 Children’s Cottage submitted an application to take over the lease of the former Head Start location on Solano Avenue, which had been serving children for 20 years. A waiting list soon formed, since there are no centers in Napa that offer infant care except the other Children’s Cottage. On April 4, 2008 the application was denied because of our alleged inability to “meet or conform to licensing requirements.” This critical need for infant and other care is now made even more critical by a broken Community Care system in California.
There has been so much trouble with state licensing that the Napa County Child Care Planning Council had a meeting to discuss this with providers on April 22 at the Napa County office of Education in Napa. At the meeting State Licensing heard about problems with analysts in the field who were giving out citations without discussing or educating caregivers. Supervisors said there were budget cuts and analysts were trying to cover as many centers as possible without the time to educate and help providers as they had in the past. Some providers said they were afraid of Licensing and were worried that many of their peers were too overwhelmed with the Licensing process to try to open new family homes or child care centers. The supervisors are trying to listen and be more friendly, educational, and helpful. This is a good thing for Napa providers and there is some hope for improvement in the relationship between Licensing and Napa child care providers.

By Sara Kvidahl—I am writing to honor the memory of Vicky Aguirre, an extraordinary Napan. Although her life was short, just 28 years, she was able to impact many people in such a way that her legacy will forever remain.
Vicky dedicated her life to caring for children at Napa’s Children’s Cottage Preschool and Child Care. She did so with compassion, true commitment, a sense of humor, and a love so strong that all in her presence were affected. Children seemed to flock to her for a lap to sit on, a hand to hold, or just a cuddle or two. “Miss Vicky” provided more than a safe space for all the children that came through the doors, but was also a confidant, a friend, a person they knew always had their best interest at heart, and was always in the mood for a laugh. Hundreds upon hundreds of Napa’s youth were given the incomparable gift of knowing Vicky, not to mention the considerable number of parents who were also able to bond with her. The worries of many working moms and dads were put to rest upon meeting Vicky and knowing that their children would be ins such phenomenal hands. Her warm demeanor drew people in and made people want to know her better.
Throughout her time at Children’s Cottage she met and bonded with many of the staff members, some becoming just like family. I met her when I was 16 at the Cottage, my very first job, and she took me under her wing.
Vicky taught me such things as how to efficiently serve snacks to a large group, how to change diapers in record-breaking time and how to smile even when it seemed nothing more could go wrong in your day. The lessons I learned from her range from the practical to the compassionate, the serious to the absurdly funny. She helped mold me into the woman I now am and the teacher I continue to strive to be. Vicky was a person that was a joy to be around, easy to talk to, and even easier to love.
On Friday July 15, our selfless, patient, adorably awkward, silly, smiling Miss Vicky passed away after a courageous battle with cancer. As one friend said while holding her hand just days before, “There will never be anyone like you, we are so lucky to have known you.” Although such a short life is tragic, on one hand, it is also utterly amazing on the other. Few people, regardless of their time on earth affect as many futures and brighten as many lives as she did. Vicky is a perfect example of someone who made her days count, brought change, showed love, and really lived for the betterment of others. And that is why Vicky will live on; her moral endowment to Napa is in her kids as they grow and bring positive change of their own and spread throughout the valley the kind of love that she shared with them.
During her illness there were many members of the Children’s Cottage family that really made a difference in her life and that made some of the most difficult times more endurable. There were those that treated her like their own daughter, providing a place to live so that she could be comfortable and cared for. There were those that focused on her and took a time out from their own lives because she was worth such compromises. There were those that befriended her, cried with her, laughed with her, hugged her, celebrated with her in good times and also stayed with her in times of darkness. You all know who you are and should be commended for your unbelievable support and unconditional love.
To the outside world, her life might not appear to be extraordinary. Her modest lifestyle does not compare to those that some of today’s youngsters look to as examples. Vicky was not rich, she drove a used Toyota, shopped predominantly at Old Navy, and sported flip-flops, not diamonds, but she too was looked at as a role model simply because of her dedication to each and every child she ever met. She was so incredibly important in so many children’s lives. That, to me, is extraordinary.
On behalf of all those who had the privilege of knowing, and therefore loving Vicky Aguirre, I will conclude by saying: We miss you, we will love you forever, we will speak of you often, and, our beloved Miss Vicky, we will never forget you.

Years ago I opened the Napa Valley Register on Father’s Day and found the following letter: Dear Editor—When we read that the Napa Valley Register needed letters about model fathers who treat their kids with love and respect, we knew our dad Ray Welch was a perfect choice. He has always taught us to love each other, respect our peers, and that we don’t need to resort to violence to solve our porblems. If we break a rule and get in trouble he explains why it was wrong and the consequences of our actions. We think that our dad stands out from other fathers because he is one of those fathers who actually takes time to listen to his children unlike a lot of today’s parents. He helps us in so many ways, not just by giving us rides, and by being a human ATM, but by helping us with our homework and teaching us lessons that we will use for life. We have so many memories we’ve shared, both good and bad. Dad, you have been a leader and an inspiration to all of us. Thank-you for being such a wonderful loving father. We hope you realize how much we appreciaate you always being there. Thank-you so much for being not only a father, but a friend.
Happy Father’s Day, we love you dad.
Katie, Megan, and Adam Welch

Ev Parker has a column in the Napa Valley Register called “Parker’s Pen.” His column on Monday, April 3, 2006 was about his grandsons Phil & Robbie and Children’s Cottage Preschool. Read on for an amusing story by this wonderful writer.

Last Wednesday, I was on my usual weekly run to pick up my “other best pal,” my 5-year-old grandson Phil at Children’s Cottage Preschool on East Avenue in Alta Heights. I was early that afternoon and with Phil and his boy and girl pals listening to a young woman instructor reading a story to his group of “Dragonflies,” I had the chance to stop by the Children’s Cottage office and chat with the facilities owners, Mary and Ray Welch, and it was a pleasure to meet two fine and extraordinary people.
Mary, the director, is a native Californian and Ray, originally a Connecticut “Yankee” is business manager and they filled me in on what is, in these days of mom and dad both working, an absolutely necessary service and that is a full service center for children from 18 months to 12 years of age.
Children’s Cottage, I learned, is open all year round and Mary and Ray have made their cottage a success the hard way, through amazing work and love they share with the children.
Beginning at a private house on 4th Street near the Fairgrounds in 1993, Children’s Cottage moved on to a larger venue at a Korean church, for seven years, then to the First Baptist Church on First Street and finally and hopefully forever, the wonderful facility they run at 1078 East Avenue in Alta Heights.
By the way, I noted in the brochure I picked up that Mary and Ray Welch were delegates at the World Forum on Early Care and Education in Athens, Greece, and went on to study at Reggio Emila, Italy, which houses one of the finest preschool programs in the world. However, all tributes and backgrounds aside, from my observations, Mary and Ray Welch pass the greatest test of all—the kids like them and their staff, and the kids do learn. What parents can ask for more than that?
By the time our conversation ended, Phil’s “Dragonflies” were coming out of a building my little pal correctly calls “the auditorium.” As usual, Phil jumped into my arms with a “Grandpa—I love you.” I love him for that, but sad to say, Phil grows taller, heavier and smarter every day and one day soon I fear I won’t have the strength to make that catch and lift, but I’ll gladly do it as long as I can.
As Phil’s parents and grandma have instructed me over and over, I go down the usual checklist. “Where’s your sweater and coat, Phil?”and, “Let’s find your lunch box.” So Phil leads me back to his auditorium and in a back room with clothing pegs on each side of the room, each bearing a stick-on name tag, Phil finds his belongings, and my little friend rertrieves his always cherished Children’s Cottage multi-colored umbrella, rain or shine.
But each time I enter the auditorium and Phil shows me his playland under one roof, my thoughts go back to a day well over five years ago and what happened once in this very room, long before Phil was born and long before Mary and Ray came along and turned it into Children’s Cottage. His big brother Robbie, now 9, was not yet 3 years old and Grandma and Grandpa were picking him up one day when the staff invited us to stay awhile as we and Robbie might enjoy a show that was about to go on. A young man billed as Desert Dan wearing an Indiana Jones hat was on hand with his collection of bunnies, gerbils, hamsters, frogs and turtles to educate kids, young and old, in terms of the pets’ eating and playing habits and their lifestyle and habitats, allowing the children and the few adults present to hold Dan’s pets.
The children and grownups sat in two rows and Robbie sat between Grandma and me as the show began. However, I’d noticed that on the small stage in the building, Desert Dan had a collection of small lizards and snakes in glass enclosures on tables set up on that stage and Dan, when he got to that part of the show, would be allowing the audience to handle those harmless reptiles. But not before his warning that some snakes and lizards were dangerous (not Dan’s) so outside of the room, snakes and lizards were best left alone.
While all this was going on, I noticed a navy blue duffle bag on the stage floor under a table and every now and then if you fixed your sight on that bag, something inside of it was moving ever so slowly. I realized at that moment what Desert Dan’s closing act would feature. When Dan got around to permitting kids to hold those little harmless snakes and lizards, Robbie enjoyed his turn to fondle a tiny snake, but by then Grandma had bolted for a folding chair next to the room’s only door. I quickly handed the snake to an eager kid on my left. Then sure enough, Dan opened his duffle bag and for the grand finale, withdrew the biggest boa constrictor I ever saw that close up. It had to be 10 feet long and 3 to 4 inches in circumference, and he placed the huge snake across the laps of eager kids in the first row. Grandma by now was off the chair near the open door and setting a new Olympic record in her 50-yard dash to the safety of our car in the parking lot.
When the guy in the Indiana Jones hat placed the huge snake across the laps of us occupants in the second row, although Robbie petted Benny the Boa, I have to admit it wasn’t the highlight of my day.
So as I drove my pal Phil home this past Wednesday, I told my pal the story of Benny the Boa and big brother Robbie who was so brave. Phil, who is a lovable guy, yet tougher than his brother, said, “Grandpa—will Desert Dan and Benny come back soon? All I could say was, “I hope not, Phil!”

As I write this Blog I am sitting at a desk and looking at the afternoon sun playing off the white-caps on the Pacific Ocean. I’m in a little town called Anchor Bay in the sunny bananna belt half way between Jenner and Mendocino on the rugged northern California coast. What a wonderful place to escape to from the busy sounds and motion of running a child care center for 85 children in Napa Valley. It is the Independence Day weekend. Tonight a NASA probe smashes into a faraway comet at 10:52 pm in the constellation Virgo. What will they learn from this planned traffic accident in space? I noticed when I was sitting in the hot tub earlier that when I closed my eyes and drifted away, time did not tick for me. I wasn’t worried about phones ringing or cars driving or people talking and waiting for an answer to something. That wasn’t important, that isn’t important. So what exactly is important? What is relevant? Well for me I have a very simple answer. The way I remember my answer is the letter “H”. I think that the three “H’s” are the most important thing to me. What are the 3 “H’s”? The first one is HEALTH. Without Health, you aren’t able to enjoy simple pleasures like a good meal, a glass of wine, or watching the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean. I am 50 years old and in reasonably good health. I am so thankful for my health. I have several friends with cancer and I appreciate having a body that works well and allows me to get up each day with a smile on my face. The next “H” is HAPPINESS. This is really an attitude that the glass is half-full not half-empty. It is an attitude that I don’t owe my state of being to anybody but myself. I am responsible for my own happiness or lack of it. I create my life, not anybody else. And I create a life for myself that I am happy and content with. Now it is time for the last “H.” The last “H” is for HUMOR. If you are lucky enough to have a healthy body and attitude, why not have some laughs as well? Why not enjoy life and laugh out loud? Why not try outraegeous things and fail or succeed and laugh at the consequences? Isn’t life a better experience when you see it through the filters of Health, Happiness, and Humor?

Here are a few commercials for our child care center that I dreamed up………by Mr. Ray

Commercial #1

This scene takes place in an admissions office at a highly prestigious university such as Stanford.
A snobby admissions officer is talking to a young man about his application to the college.

Looking at your application to our campus, I see that you were on the honor roll, played in several sports, had various extra-curricula activities, and did lots of volunteer work in the community. Frankly, we see dozens of applications like this every day. I don’t see anything here that would put you a cut above to get you in…..

He scans the application nodding negatively when his eyes catch something at the bottom of the last page.

Wait! What’s this?

You went to Children’s Cottage?

Well yes

And you were a line leader?

Yes I was

And you got all of your stars?

I sure did!

Well let’s see what classes you’re interested in enrolling in!

Announcer: Children’s Cottage Child Care is now enrolling children 18 months to 12 years old. Give your child the best. Call (707) 224-3825 to schedule your tour today.

(Cut back to the snobby admissions officer)

So how’s Miss Mary?

Announcer: Children’s Cottage Child Care. It all starts here

Commercial #2

Two people are talking around the office water cooler

So he got fired?

Yeah, they say he lied on his resume.

He didn’t go to Harvard Law School?

No, he has a degree from Havard.

He lied about Stanford?

No, he went to Stanford.

He lied about his work experience?

No, all of that was accurate.

So where did he lie on his resume?

Well, he said he went to Children’s Cottage Child Care as a child. They checked
with Miss Mary and she never heard of him. Poor guy!

Yeah

Announcer: Children’s Cottage Child Care where children 18 months to 12 years learn basic values like honesty, intergity, and potty training. Children’s Cottage. It all starts here.

I waited outside of room 1 with several anxious parents. We couldn’t see inside the room but we knew they were in there. I leaned against a tree and smiled. This was the first day of kindergarten for all of these children. I was here to pick up 3 of them to bring them back to Children’s Cottage for after-school care. I wondered how their first day was going. Were they having fun? Were they listening and learning? Were they as anxious or scared as some of the waiting parents seemed to be?

I sat down in the shade of a tree and closed my eyes, drifting, slowly drifting back in time, back through the years and memories. I went to a time long ago when I was a child in East Hartford, Connecticut. We lived in Mayberry Village in a duplex. I was the oldest of 3 boys. I still don’t know how my wonderful mother managed to raise 3 boys. If only she had a little girl in the mix it might have been eaiser or better for her. Anyway, it was my first day of Kindergarten. Mom had walked me to school which was about 10 minutes down the road. The school looked new and big and clean. There were lots of other kids and parents around. Lots of noise and colors and people. Some older kids looked at a bunch of us new kids and chanted “kindergarten baby, stick your head in gravy!”

I looked at the fenced in playground and the asphalt surface and thought it would be a good place to play ball. I had my new shirt on and my hair was in a crew cut, nice and short. Mom had put something like a thick maple syrup on my hair and brushed the front straight up. It was September of 1959. The end of the fifties. The beginning of the sixties. I was excited. I was a big kid now, going to school. My brothers had to stay at home! I Looked around at the fresh sunny September day. Mom had gone. The sky was blue and I was happy. My teacher was an old but nice lady named Mrs. Gruber who had been a kindergarten teacher for probably decades. She looked a little mean, not as nice as my mom. But that was O.K. Things were going good. We were outside playing with a ball. The sun was warm. But wait. I felt an urge. I know that urge. I had to go to the bathroom. I had to pee. So where was the bathroom? I don’t think Mrs. Gruber told us that yet. I don’t think there is one out here on the playground. Where is it then? Should I ask Mrs. Gruber? She’s way over there talking to those kids. I can’t wait much longer. I don’t want her to get mad at me for not knowing where the bathroom is. I don’t want to get in trouble. This is embarrassing. I don’t want to be embarrassed. I have to go to the bathroom. I’ve got to do something now. Now! And so I did. Quickly and quietly I slipped out of the gate and started walking. Fast. I walked with a purpose and I walked toward my house. Time quickly passed and soon I was at my house. My mom looked surprised. “What are you doing here, Ray?” I explained and ran for the toilet. Soon afterwards I had a piece of toast and was back at school. Nobody even missed me. I found out exactly where the bathroom was and promised never to leave school grounds again.

Smiling, I awoke from my daydream and saw the clossroom door open up. The children were happy as they walked out of the classroom. They looked so important and so grown up. Every one of them glowed with knowledge. They were absolutely radiant. I got a little choked up with pride for all of the children who were continuing their educational journey through life. Standing up and seeing them, I spontaneously started clapping. Well done my little friends!

Everything a child learns in preschool forms the path and pattern for his life. At Children’s Cottage Child Care in the Napa Valley the teachers pick out a special helper each day to assist them in the daily activities of the school. One of these coveted positions is that of the Line Leader. This special helper gets to be at the front of the line when the children go outside to play, to another room for an activity, or back to the room again.

Being Line Leader is very cool. I was thinking about this as I sat in my car at a red light. I was the third car in line and became aware that the light had turned green and the car in front of me was not moving because the car in front of him was not moving. In other words, the Line Leader was not doing his job! Should I honk my horn at him? Should I shout out some “potty talk” profanity at the Leader of the Line?

Before I could make up my mind on what to do we started moving and slowly got on our way. Several minutes later I found myself at yet another red light except that this time there were no cars in front of me. In other words I was the Line Leader! What chance! What opportunity! Now I could show the world (or at least the cars behind me) how a responsible Line Leader should act. I glanced in my rear view mirror. Three or four cars behind me. The light was still red. I looked at my fuel level. I had enough gas. The light was still red. I quickly tugged at my seat belt. It was secure. Light still red. I checked the rear view mirror again. A big van joined the line of vehicles. Light still red. My breathing stopped as I waited in anticipation. All this responsibility! What if I messed up? Suddenly the light turned green and I took a deep breath as I expertly released the brake and gave it just enough gas to take my line through the intersection at just the right speed. I glanced in the rear view mirror again and it seemed to me that the guy behind me was smiling. His face had a look that seemed to say “I’m so glad to be following such a great Line Leader as you, oh great one”.

Now that I have this great accomplishment under my belt I can’t wait to show off my Line Leader skills so that others may benefit from my training and experience. When I am at the front of the line at the post office I will constantly scan all of the windows and when the next customer leaves I will be at that clerk’s window in record time. When I approach a fast food drive-up speaker I will have my order ready to blurt out so that the cars behind me are not held up. When going through a toll booth I will have the exact amount of the toll ready in advance and I will tell the attendant to have a nice day as I breeze on through. Just think, with the Line Leader skills being taught to children today, the world will be a more efficient and responsible place tomorrow.

Thanks Miss Mary!