Did you ever hear that old Yiddish proverb, “We grow too soon old but too late smart?”

After paying my dues for 20 years, I am calling it quits with the Authors Guild (AG).

It’s after midnight but before the first crack of the morning light.

Each time I arrive at the crest of Coldwater or Laurel Canyon and see the Mulholland street sign, my stomach grips and I look away.

When I couldn’t find the black velvet jewelry box with my diamond earrings, I didn’t worry — not immediately.

I’ve learned from long experience, while I cannot control any institution’s inept or crooked behavior, I can control how much I’ll allow it to leach from my menuchat hanefesh.

Admittedly, I never understood how people got any serious work done, even from home, while still in loungewear or play clothes.

Speech therapists, psychiatrists, neurologists, teachers, and other experts now concur that too much tech is damaging both children and adults.

I will always feel grateful to our old kitchen, the place that for so many years and perhaps more than any other room in the house, felt like home.