Nature vs. nurture

It would appear that one cannot escape one's genes. In this case, it's the ear-ache gene. Grandson Jack, our sweet 16-month-old, has had a winter's length of ear problems. Alas, I know from whom he inherited them.

My sister's childhood, and to a certain extent mine as well, was spent with the ENT doc. I recall Daddy blowing pipe smoke into our ears to ease the pain and being made to lie down with a hot washcloth on our "down" ear in hopes of making it better. My sister's ear drum burst when she was little and I can still recall the misery that caused.

Then my second son had ear problems of herculean proportions. Five surgeries later, and grown man that he is, he still has a hole in one ear drum. The last doctor said that was just what that ear wanted and we gave up the fight.

Now, the grandson has these problems and it looks like he may begin the route of having tubes inserted. I'm just praying they work the first time and we can beat the nature.

We don't have any pipe smokers left.