Bobby wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, so he went into the kitchen where his mother was working. He watched a moment, then wondered out loud if he could have something to eat. His mother gave him a plate of ginger cookies and a glass of milk. He took them outside and sat on the front porch. He found it pleasant to sit in the afternoon sun, nibbling on a cookie and listening to the sounds of his mother moving around in the house. He looked down the street interested that someone he knew might come by and visit.

Down at the tribal water hole one morning, a certain distracted caveman and his beloved grandmother were surprised by a saber-toothed tiger looking for his breakfast. The grandmother became a delicious first course and the caveman was confronted by the need to make a quick decision about what action he should take next. Now if the caveman had accessed his grief in those first few moments, it is possible he would have been too overcome to keep his body out of harm’s way. He too, might have become part of the tiger’s breakfast. Alternatively, if he had accessed his anger immediately, he might have attacked the still hungry tiger all by himself. This would have been a brave but probably foolhardy thing to do.

While Dorothy was growing up, her father often beat her and her mother never stopped him. Dorothy waited and waited for her mother to step in and protect her. Dorothy was very patient. She waited for 14 years.

Sally, a good little girl, is playing in the indoor sandbox. She is 5 years old and very, very mad at her mother. Her mother is standing right over there, rummaging around in that closet.