To understand how Jessica managed to wrap me around her little finger and convince me that we should travel to Italy, you first have to understand how much she loves Disney World. That began because she loves Disney movies, which begat an unfortunate fascination with Disney princesses (“Sweetie, I’ve just been asked to work on…

“A practice trip,” I say to Jessica. “You think we need a practice trip before we decide about going to Italy.”  Jessica loves to travel, and she spots a possibility for getting two trips instead of one. I don’t like to say she’s devious and manipulative, because I don’t think she actually knows how to…

We are getting on the plane to go home, our long weekend in DC over. Security is less obnoxious here than in Kansas City, and I suppose that’s because no one really expects the terrorists to head for the heartland. Jessica is being unusually attentive to me this morning. She got up when the alarm…

At home, Jessica sets the New York City book off to one side. “We must decide about Italy first,” she says, showing an excellent grasp of priority setting, and she opens the first book. A moment later, she announces, “There is a lot of Italy.” “Yes,” I agree. “It’s a big country. So maybe we should…

Jessica is hanging over my left shoulder. “Are you buying the tickets?” she asks. “The airline tickets to Italy.” “Mmm,” I say, not quite clicking “buy now.” I have checked the bank balance, and I have checked the dates, but the idea of dealing with luggage and trains and Jessica and I don’t speak the…