Today is my granddaughter Sophie’s eighth birthday. She was three years old when I started writing Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship That Changed the World & six when I finished and became ever more interested and engaged in the process. She listened to stories, looked at photographs, and agreed that it would be a good idea for me to dedicate this book to: “Everyone who has fought and who is fighting and who will fight for the rights of women everywhere.” I share this to affirm the connections that happen as we pass on true stories. Susan & Elizabeth knew this and infused their rhetoric with true stories. In 1858, Elizabeth advised an audience to “Remember. . ., and hand it down to your children’s children.” From Sophie’s first birthday party onward, I’ve been the designated birthday-cake-maker and once she started talking I’ve honored her request, which have ranged from dinosaurs to the solar system to a horse with butterscotch frosting (butterscotch being her favorite pony’s name) to this year’s bowling pin with the “red sprinkles for the stripe.” I teach an evening class tonight, so we’re having an early dinner celebration. Sophie’s menu choice is “macaroni & cheese from a box,” which her mother, an excellent cook, reluctantly agreed to ’cause it’s her birthday. As for her daddy, I’ll bet he’ll love it ’cause he made many a box of it during his growing up years. As for me, I don’t typically eat mac & cheese, although, of course, I will tonight!”