Improvise

If you look closely, you might notice a bit of a gap in my alphabet scrapbook. Every week, my first grade teacher would announce a new letter, and we’d fill a page with pictures we brought from home. That particular week, for B, I found a handbag, a baby with a dog, a teddy bear, and a whole lot of other things I can’t recall, because the letter

that week was, in fact, P. I was inconsolable, until dear Miss Crawford taught me my first lesson in improvisation. The bag became “purse.” The dog became “pet.” And the bear became . . . ?