To be fair to Mr. Possum's readers I should provide an example of the interface between a pubescent daughter and a menopausal mother. I called daughter Erin in Dallas, and her older brother told me she was out on a date. I can only reach my sister by mailing to a post office box in northern Vermont. She moved there shortly after her release from the Sisters of Charity Rest and Rehabilitation Institute in 1999. I miss her still.

We have tentative plans to meet in New York City sometime next spring, but I refuse to go unless she stays on her meds and off the sauce.