I'm trying to remember back to when I was 14. That was well over half a century ago.

I was in ninth grade at Nutley Junior High School. The building we were in had an old part and a new part. The old part had the third floor closed off because it wasn't safe for more than a few at a time. Mostly it was used for storage.

Once it had been the high school, but then the town grew and a new high school got built, and the old one became a junior high.

I was 14 when I "became a woman." I think I was the last of my "group" of girl friends to achieve that. Back then the euphemism for why you couldn't go swimming was "my Aunt Sally is visiting." The boys were essentially clueless about the "code words."

Let's double 14. At 28 I had a 3 yr. old and we were living here in Slidell. I was involved in a new branch of League of Women Voters.

The next 14 yr. anniversary found me back here in Slidell, with two children. My big involvement was Girl Scouts. I had a cadette (jr. high age) troop. I now had a 12 yr. old and a 17 yr. old who was starting college a year early. The move during her high school years left her a year ahead in math and science.

Another 14 years and I was back in college. I'd gotten (finally) a bachelor's degree in 1985 and a master's in 1989. I was a grad student at Tulane and had a husband talking about retiring.

And this year I made 5 times 14.

(And my oldest grandchild is 14.)