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When I was about 10, my Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Bud bought a resort near Branson, Missouri (before it became, well, Branson). It was made up of a bunch of cabins of varying sizes and a pool and I don't remember what else. I just remember that I loved going there because I could go off to one of the cabins on my own every afternoon and watch "One Day At A Time" in peace.

One morning Uncle Bud yelled at me because the TV kept him up when I insisted on staying up to watch "Something for Joey" on the late show. But then he took me down to the lake in his Scout so I could see the cows, so it was all good.

While visiting one summer, I discovered a large pile of Good Housekeeping magazines. I was only about 11 or so, but I remember devouring each and every one of them in some kind of gluttonous pre-homemaker binge. My favorite section of the magazine was--and still is--"My Problem and How I Solved It." Even at that tender age I was entranced by the magic of personal narrative... I could scarcely await the day when I, too, could contribute my own dilemmas to the pages of GH.

• The recipe for her yummier than yummy tuna-noodle casserole, complete with everything I would need to make it
• A box of macaroni and cheese and a bottle of ketchup (my favorite food since birth) in case the tuna stuff didn't turn out
• This publication (on the right)...a collection of several "My Problem and How I Solved It" articles stapled together with a cutout picture of Rosie O'Donnell on the cover. "You read these while your sauce is cooking," she wrote across the top. Under Rosie's name she wrote, "looks like Amy" because, well, people have been telling me that for about 10 years.

She's the best aunt.

My mom (top) and Aunt Marilyn (bottom) in a festival of prints.