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Isn't it always the way - people you hardly know ask the most personal questions. I have a ring on my finger, so the "What no husband yet?" has finally stopped. Now, strangers stare at my stomach and inquire, "Any babies yet?" I have a pat answer for this intrusion. "Ah, no," I murmur in a low tone and look gravely. "There's insanity in the family." Time was a woman of my tender years could have said, "Get real. I'm too old," and that would be that. Today, though, it seems nothing's impos ...

Down through three generations of my family, there has been one constant. When I finally succumb to doing yard work - in a disenchanted and perturbed frame of mind each time since the age of seven - the women in my life leave me alone. They go inside the house or walk away from me, stop talking, and my world goes quiet. My grandmother, for example, used to ask me to help her rake leaves from her magnolia tree in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The tree is taller than Mount Everest and has mor ...