When my daughter was an adolescent and teenager, she refused to talk with me about body changes, birth control or sex. So, I put pamphlets on Claire's bed since she is a reader.

In high school, Claire did Running Start. At 18, she graduated with a high school diploma and a two-year college Associate degree. That meant at 18, she started as a college junior.

An only child and a gifted negotiator, Claire convinced college administrators to let her skip the dorm and live in an on-campus apartment instead. For her first apartment, her dad and I gathered things she needed, right down to toilet paper.

In my living room, I filled paper shopping bags with items for Claire. For 10 years, I was a board member for Family Planning (now Planned Parenthood). Grinning, I went to Family Planning and quietly got 100 free condoms.

Separating the condom strips, I sprinkled condoms evenly in the shopping bags. Shook them to the bottom. For once in my life, I shut up.

To set up Claire's first apartment, Claire brought a sheltered girlfriend who wasn't going to college.

Claire called her father, appalled. "Dad! Do you know what Mom did? Mom put condoms in my bags!"

To his credit, Terry laughed and said mildly, "You know your mother."

When Claire would speak to me a week later, I explained. "Claire, I am not telling you to have sex with 100 boys. I want you to protect yourself from STDs and pregnancy. How long have I been telling you that you will not be a teen parent?"

"Since birth," Claire said ruefully.

"I tell all of my friends this story," Claire, 28, said recently. "I think it's hilarious! They do, too."

I am a revenge story!