My recollection is that my first unaccompanied foray came when I was about 12 and my mother, my three younger brothers and I went shopping at Barneys.

WSJ: Raising Kids in the City

My mother nodded, and so I went over to check.

NEWYORKER: The Pura Principle

When I went away to sleepaway camp that summer, my mother not only cleaned and fumigated my room but threw out all the cigars I had hidden inside the bell of my tenor saxophone.

FORBES: I respect you, smoker. The new laws against outdoor smoking are about you returning the favor.

My mother leaned against the arm of a vinyl reclining chair and said she was thirsty, so I went to the nurses' station to fetch her some water.

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