For the Register

The long-awaited “Spore” has gotten a lot of attention, and not in the way publisher Electronic Arts wanted.

I’ve been asked by several of my younger friends to write about the difficulties they are beginning to have with their parents who, as they get older and need more assistance, become very stubborn and difficult.

A few days ago my grandson Robbie was doing his homework in our den. My pal asked me to go over his history and math homework with him.

As a mom to three girls ages 8, 11 and 14, I find myself dashing through life like an endurance event — an Olympic decathlon 24/7, 365 days a year. It’s a daily race over hurdles and obstacles, often ending by collapsing on the couch sometime after 9 p.m.

As unlikely as it may seem today, back in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s, the dominant agricultural crop in the Napa area was not wine grapes. It was prunes.

So now what? The walk is over, and allegedly there are other parts of my life that need tending to.

NAME: Lucy-fur

NAME: De’lylah