'Stress' was the catch-all every pamper-pedlar I spoke to used to explain why healthy women feel the need to be regularly patted petted and preened into a state of babyish beatification.
Dad sometimes patted me on the knee and called me his Little Schmuck.
I got a scholarship to Seattle University and I was writing arrangements for singers and everybody. But the music course was too dry and I really wanted to get away from home.