We’re Not in Kansas Anymore
— Helen Baldwin

My goal in college was to become a special education teacher. I had a dream work-study job at a nearby elementary school, assisting in two special ed classrooms. My career plan derailed slightly when I married, moved, and resumed studies at a university without a special education department. Several years…

My husband, Randy, and I had never considered leaving our hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. That all changed when Randy received an unexpected coaching offer in South Carolina. With little time to prepare for such a major life change, we soon found ourselves relocating to Columbia. In Columbia, my teaching…

Last year sprinted to the finish line at breakneck speed. I couldn’t have stuffed much more into December’s calendar. Wrapping presents, finishing intense seasonal activities and mandatory year-end tasks, fulfilling copious obligations, and escaping to Charleston, South Carolina, for a delightful family getaway left no calendar square unscathed. Due to…

Our granddaughter, Clara, turns 10 this month. She loves choosing themes for her birthday parties, and “PopPop,” as she calls my husband, Randy, challenges himself to design and bake elaborate cakes to match. This year’s theme is based on the Broadway musical and film “Wicked.”…

I don’t remember when or why my general interest in working with children gravitated toward those with special needs. Before returning to school for teacher certification in special education, I spent a year substituting in self-contained schools and classes throughout the massive Fort Worth, Texas, school system. My father was…

According to my mother, I made sure she was being “kessul” (careful) during her pregnancy with my brother. I wasn’t thrilled, however, about sharing the spotlight with baby Paul. Thinking outside the box, even then, I asked sweetly to push Paul around in the buggy. My folks, weary from parenting…

When I was growing up, I gravitated toward creepy, hair-raising movies and books. I loved being spooked, especially on Halloween. I’d become deliriously giddy when the autumn wind in my native Fort Worth, Texas, howled during trick-or-treating. By the time I became a teacher of kindergarteners…

The fall of 1996 brought the usual glorious colors, cooler weather, and a whammy of a news bulletin: I was pregnant. In our 40s, my husband, Randy, and I adjusted as well as possible, as did our equally stunned son, Matthew, who was 10. Our ecstatic daughter, Katie, then 7,…

My teacher parents were hardworking, generous, creative, witty, and caring. Shortly after I began college, my beloved maternal grandmother moved into an apartment added to our family’s house. During Grandmom’s episodes of congestive heart failure, Dad took her to the emergency room every time. Genuinely happy to help, he…

I was born on an Air Force base in Tacoma, Washington, but I grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. Texas was a wonderful place despite the chiggers, mosquitoes, and traffic. It was also oppressively hot in the summer, when only ice-cold watermelon, iced tea, ice cream, and Mexican food sounded…

As a high school senior, I belonged to our school’s coed spirit group. I belted out the cheers at the football games enthusiastically, although my pigskin smarts fit on the head of a pin. An astute observer, I quickly identified “first and 10” as a good thing because of the…