Grin And Bear It

As a new mom, Leslie LaFoy, at her wit's end, called her mother for advice. "He never sleeps!" she wailed into the phone. From the end of the line came a cackle -- yes, a cackle! -- and the words, "I have waited thirty-six years for this moment!"Yes, the apple didn't fall far from the maternal tree. Leslie doesn't sleep much. Never has and apparently never will. Why? Well, Leslie says there are just too many interesting things to do with a day. Sleep is at the very bottom of her To Do List. There's the writing, of course. And the reading, the interior decorating, the stained glass work, the sewing, the gardening, the now teenage son's ice hockey and lacrosse schedule (Leslie's the Executive Secretary for the Wichita Lacrosse Association), all the household and financial management stuff, playing the secretary-slash-receptionist for her husband's business one day a week, and being a decent wife, mom, daughter, friend. Leslie used to juggle being a high-school history teacher -- and department chair -- along with everything else. But her husband, David, begged her to have some mercy on the family and so she gave up the world of academia to be a full-time writer and lady of leisure. Once the son heads off to college, though.... Leslie's toying with the idea of going there herself. She misses that teaching thing -- and it would only be a couple of classes, a couple times a week, a semester at a time.Yeah, she thinks the schedule could handle that.