Thanks for all the great comments!  It's been fun reading others' choices of who they would want to meet from the past.  And what fabulous choices you've had!  Be sure to read appleleaf's blog about who she'd like to meet.  We really have some giants in the world of women writers, don't we?  I've always wanted to write about Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Lord gave me someplace to finally say what I've felt for so many years.  Sometimes I have something I need to write.  Other times, I just want to write.  There is a difference, although I won't expand on that now.  Anyway, tonight I have a need to do a bit of ranting (just a bit, I promise).  For several years now, in one of my homeschool magazines, there's been an ad for a homeschool video curriculum.  It shows a tidy kitchen with a child of, oh, about 12 years old, sitting at the kitchen table and smiling at a TV screen, books in front of him (and nothing else on the table, I believe.  That couldn't be my kitchen that's for sure!)  Now, this may work for some families but that's not what bothers me about this ad.  In the background, you see a mom standing at a clean kitchen counter, pouring herself a cup of coffee!  As if, well, all a homeschool mom needs to do is pop in the video and, voila!, school is done for the day!  The message this ad is sending is so wrong!  None of us, I'm pretty sure, can just shove a curriculum (or whatever you use) in front of our kids and say, "Have a good day, kiddo!"  I think it really does a disservice to homeschool moms.  You may think I'm over-reacting, so let me explain.  This is what happened one day last week (and it happens more often that you'd think.)  Picture a homeschool mom (me) sitting at the kitchen table (which has tons of daughter's artwork at one end, she produces more than most rabbits breed!)  At my left, 5 yo daughter is trying to duck under the table while whining she just can't get the "th" sound!  To my right, 8 yo son is tugging at my arm, "Mom, I need help with this math problem!"  11 yo son comes in from the dining room, saying "Mom, want to hear my sentences?"  At the same time, husband (who has the morning off, lucky me) comes in from the computer room, saying, "Honey, could you come look at these drawings I made of the railing for the deck?"  A more relaxed (ahem) homeschool mom probably would have handled it better than I did.  Things got a bit ugly but we worked it out.  Hubby got praise for his beautiful railing drawings, daughter finished her reading lesson with a smile, younger son finished his math with a grimace and happy-go-lucky older son bounded off, finished with school.  Mom bounded off to the bathroom where she got a little privacy for a few minutes before the inevitable knock on the door.  So, there's the background.  That stinkin' ad came to mind later in the day and I felt the need to vent.  Thanks.  When I was a teenager, I used to wish I was more popular.  Now that I'm the center of attention, well ... I guess the grass is always greener!