Afterthoughts

                                           Robert Westbrook      Children are a blessing.  They fill the house with laughter, sadness, and anticipation.  My four children did that for me.      You may wonder why I included anticipation.  You never knew from one day to the next what might happen. Would I need to put a bandage on a cut or soothe hurt feelings. My greatest anticipation came when my youngest started school.       In 1971, that day came. Excited, he rushed out the door, climbed onto the bus and headed to school in Hallsville, Texas. Not wanting to sit alone in a quiet house, I walked to the restaurant in front of our house. While I was drinking coffee, a neighbor sat across from me with a frown. In a sad voice she said, "Your heart will break now that he's gone. You will miss him so much."     ...