Julie looked at the scene, buzzing with joy to see the kids enjoying themselves. And they weren't using electronics, or organized activities, or even a chock-full schedule. They were kids doing what kids were ment to do - learning about the world around them by experiencing it. Not just reading about it in their mounds and mounds of homework, not just seeing it in a movie or a video.

"Don't worry about it, Aunt Susan. We're teenagers. No one ever listens to us." She tilited her head to the side. "I think it is a denial thing, because it's embarrassing to grown-ups that we're so much smarter that they are."

"Seems to me, we're the ones who make our lives ovely complicated. We've got lots more choices than Amish people do - if we choose to do thirty things, then we shouldn't be whining about how busy it is."

White lace curtains were streched to cover two of the three rows of line, wooden clothespins holding them in place every few feet. "Hi, Aunt Susan." Whitney was the first to see her, and she came bounding over. "What do you think of our new dryer? It's the last technological advance, guaranteed to dry clothes - and curtains - in the lognest possible amount of time, while guaranteeing wrinkles on each and every item or your money back."