As a Bat Mitzvah gift to Rose and my niece Miriam, my cousins in Philadelphia invited them for a visit. Don't panic. You didn't miss the Bat Mitzvah. That's a year away, but we all thought it would be a good idea to do this now and not in the flurry of Bat Mitzvah activities.

I had no panic about my cousins caring for the girls, finding fun activities, finding gluten free food. . . My cousins are not just some of the nicest people in the word but extraordinarily competent. They've taken care of me often. Rose has already reported that they bought out the local gluten free bakery.

No, I wasn't worried about things from their end, but the travel and the homework. Rose and Miriam were unaccompanied minors. They've never been on a plane without an adult. Bureaucracy alone stresses me out. Have we signed the right form? Would the powers that be let my cousins through to greet them on the other end? And then there the was airplane ride itself. My sister and I both remember the time we traveled without our parents and accidentally knocked over the wine of the man next to us. We survived. So did the girls. They watched t.v. and did a little homework.

And let's talk about homework. I purposefully made this an unexcused absence to limit the amount of homework Rose would have. As she said, "What's the worst that can happen with an unexcused absence? If I get too many I have to go to detention. . .and get to read my book." But that didn't really stop her or her teachers from trying to cover all the class material as well as the regular homework. You know Rose. You know she can't just not do the homework and accept the bad grade. She brought her science and math books. She brought all her notes on Chinese philosophies with a plan to write several drafts of her essays. At least she didn't bring her cello. John and I feel exploring the sights of Philadelphia and living without your parents for a few days is education enough.

She's going to have a wonderful time.