Normally the sweetest person on the planet, Sydney Lynn HATES asking for help. "I'll do it myself," she'll snap peevishly. This one, small, barely-worth-noticing character flaw has occasionally worked to her detriment. "What do you mean there's an out-standing warrant on my license?" she had asked incredulously, when she was but an itty-bitty brand-new baby driver."Did you ever actually receive verification that the court applied your fun-filled Driver Safety Course against your ticket(s)?" her father responded gently. My attempts to sweet-talk the judge were futile when Sydney got into a snit when he referred to her as "young lady." I wonder if she would have accepted my help in the form of bail money? Fortunately, we didn't have to find out.

The next day, I was 5/6th finished with our project. "I can't think of what to do with her N," I complained to my friend Kirsten. We brainstormed for awhile before she asked, "What picture would you include if you weren't restricted by a letter?" I pointed to the picture of Syd and I in London at King's Cross Station re-enacting Harry Potter's magical entrance to Platform Nine and 3/4s. Kirsten suddenly grinned. "Where are you there?" she prompted. I frowned. "Platform Nine and 3/4s," I told her again. "Where?" she repeated. Ah! The lightbulb moment! "Platform NINE and 3/4s," I shouted as we high-fived.
I was so excited, describing Sydney's acrostic to Savannah in vivid detail. She couldn't press X like you did two paragraphs ago when you couldn't bear to hear even one more detail about this stupid little project. In true Mosiman-fashion, though, my eldest daughter couldn't just compliment me and tell me that I was clearly the most talented and creative person on the planet. No-oo-oo. She had to find SOMETHING to criticize. "No one on the West Coast is going to find Yosemite interesting, Mom. It's practically in their backyard." I huffed indignantly. Just one MORE reason to not like the West Coast obviously. "But did it occur to you that New York City might be a big deal?" I slapped my forehead. Duh! I adjusted my N to include NYC. Then I remembered Carlo's' Bakery in New Jersey and squeezed that in too before I finalized the project and sent it off to Sydney for printing.
"That looks great," Brad said admiringly, before, in true Mosiman-fashion, he added, "I'm surprised you didn't include Niagara Falls. Not everyone has one one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World practically in their backyard. "
End of story. Sydney won. This is the last time I help her.
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