I remember one time Bruce had borrowed my dad & mom (Vickie Liss Herzberg)'s VW bus for a field trip and there was this boy from France visiting. We went to some familiar state park or something for a field trip and Christof, the boy from France, and I filled up the entire glove compartment with mushrooms. I remember being so happy that the popular boy from France wanted to play with me - of course filling up the glove compartment with mushrooms was an excellent choice of games! Unfortunately the moment the bus was returned parents all the excitement ended and far be it from me to remember a rotting, smelly glove compartment full of mushrooms. Of course they soon became hard to forget.

I remember when my brother David Herzberg put a frog into the hole in Bruce's guitar. We were out in the yard on a
bench near the fence of the Little Rock Montessori school. I remember
being surprised that Bruce could get upset like that, and how surprising
it was.
I think he was unsure of how to get the frog out, and that was a big
surprise to me. He was telling David never to do that again and that he
had done a wrong thing. I think all the kids had thought it was quite
hilarious until finding out that it was wrong to the frog and wrong to Bruce's guitar.

And this memory : My brother David and I had spent the night at your house in Arkansas and had plenty of fun playing with Devora and Seth and even milking I think it was a goat.

In the morning you and Bruce asked us if we liked oatmeal. My mother to this day despises oatmeal and neither my brother nor I had any idea what oatmeal was.

The closest we had encountered was those Little Debbie type cookies with the white frosting cream in the middle. Not that mom bought them, but we had seen other kids with them. I remember thinking that obviously oatmeal must have something to do with oatmeal cookies.

"Maybe the outside parts were the 'cookie' and the creamy frosting in the middle was the 'oatmeal'!" I thought,"What luck! We would never have gotten such a decadent breakfast at home!"

I don't remember whether I attempted to confirm my suspicions with David or whether I just answered enthusiastically for the both of us, "Oh yes, we like oatmeal!"

Needless to say it was a sore surprise for all involved as you and Bruce wondered why we balked at the breakfast we had so enthusiastically endorsed and David and I wondered how to get out of eating this warm mush that was such a far cry from what we had imagined.

It's funny - I don't remember much about Dory Luna being a little baby. I have really clear memories of Seth being a little baby. I remember how we used to walk him in the neighborhood and I still claim him as the first person I ever babysat. I was little then too and you and Bruce just walked to the corner store. I sat at his crib and basically stared at him until he woke up because I was so excited to be taking care of him. Not the best thing for you two to come home to!

But my dad always says I have the best memory for times when I was in trouble. And I guess he's right because I remember getting Bruce upset another time too. Dory had asked me to get out some games or something from a storage area that was above her bed. This was in a different house than the one with the animals - I think it was before that house. Bruce came in and he was all, "You listened to HER?!?! She's THREE for crying out loud!" or whatever age she was. Apparently the toys/games were out of her reach on purpose. Who knew?!?!? smile emoticon

I do have a good not-in-trouble memory. You guys were at our house and Bruce asked me about a necklace I was wearing. It was of an apple core, and I answered, "It's an eaten apple." My grandmother had sent it to me, and not particularly being a fruit person, I hadn't thought of it one way or the other. Bruce said, "It doesn't look eaten to me!" He showed me that only the middle of the apple had been eaten, that there was still plenty of apple on both the top and bottom. It was a little, tiny interaction but one that taught me so much about not being wasteful and one I still think of now and then when I give Lielle an apple and watch her try and make the best of it.

by Jill Herzberg Morgenstern