One of the pleasures of visiting our grandchildren (okay, and their parents!) in Chicago is seeing Joe and his youngest child Alanna. It’s always a pleasure to watch a friend or relative grow up through periodic glimpses, something you miss if you see the person every day or every week. With Alanna, I catch up on the latest fads and fashions; for example, many of us wear Crocs, but for the first time I saw Jibbitz, a great way to turn an inexpensive pair of casual shoes into personalized footwear. Will Manolo Blahniks be her next conquest? I also get to stay in touch with elementary school curriculum; her father is “making her” write a report on Ancient Rome. She has a regular job as a mother’s helper with a neighborhood family’s four young children, with tasks such as watching the baby while the others get baths and reading bedtime stories. She is very comfortable with Felix and Coco, for both of whom she literally rocked the cradle in their first few days of life. She shares her father’s artistic ability and loves experiencing the natural world. Best of all, every time she calls me Aunt Patsy, I recall my own Aunt Patsy, for whom I was named.