Freedom

AROUND THE TABLES, I find youth, zest, imagination, awareness, true friendships, and countless glad tidings of life in its most joyous surroundings--one day at a time. Thanks to the AA program, I recently spent, not a four-martini, wine-and-stingers lunch afternoon, but a shorter, happier hour. I enjoyed a stand-up corned beef on onion roll, a super-big-scoop chocolate-chip cone, and some browsing in the bookstore, where I bought a copy of A. A. Milne's When We Were Very Young for D. W. R. Jr. Skimming through the book (for Jr.'s benefit, of course), I was struck by the short verse titled "Independence":