When the Fullness of the Time Had Come

I've written before that I often think of Bil Keane's cartoon panel, "The Family Circus," whenever the children in my real-life family circus say something memorable.

Today, on what would have been my grandmother's 94th birthday, I am reminded of a remark Lincoln made when he was eight. It was a chilly but sunny November afternoon, and I had taken the kids to the mausoleum south of Bartlesville where my grandmother is buried. I was showing Lincoln the inscription on her resting place, which indicates that she was born in 1914 and died in 1986. It also reads, "Born Again, Nov. 3, 1980."

Lincoln pondered it for a moment. "Whoa," he said solemnly. "Just in time."