I appreciate this discussion, thank you for all your comments. I thought I was alone with a mystery problem. Getting rid of these sassafrass suckers or seedlings has been impossible. The roots are too deep in established beds to dig out. The later comment about an established sassafrass tree dying might be a clue as to what's going on over here. There was a really big Norway maple on the neighbor's property that they took down about 12 years ago. That's allowed a little Norway maple to flourish on our property to create a lot of shade. Also a lot of Sassafrass trees popped up on the neighbor's property, and we let one grow on our property. Ever since then the suckers come up everywhere and don't stop no matter how we slice and dice and pull out as much as we can. The little ones are sprouting up ALL OVER, by the dozens, and we've dug down 2 feet in the places where we can and we still don't get the whole root out. Use caution with sassafrass. It may be native but there are some natives that become invasive pests, and sassafrass seems to be one, along with some rudbeckia and a few others. I agree about the maples, especially if it's a Norway Maple, which are an invasive non-native. I've seen some maples here on Long Island, I think they're called swamp maples, they appear to share space with other plantings more peacefully than Norway Maples. I would never have considered round up but some compelling points are made above. Makes me wonder if the salt, vinegar and soap I spray on poison ivy leaves would work on the sassafrass suckers.. Peace and happy gardening.

If you're lifting weights 3 times a week, you're most likely building tons of muscle and burning fat. The scale is not an accurate measure because, as we all know, muscle weighs more than fat because it's more dense. Does your gym offer a fitness assessment? Get a body composition test that measures your % body fat. If you keep going to the gym and eating well, I guarantee you that if you go for a retest in a month or two, you'll see results...and good ones. Another good way to measure your progress at home is to record your measurements. Your waist, hips, ribcage (just under breasts), thighs, and upper arms are all good places to track progress (I track all of them in a small notebook). If you think food is your problem (eating too much or even too little, eating the wrong things) I'd strongly recommend tracking your caloric intake (carb, fiber, and fat intake are all good things to track too) in a notebook. Measure your serving sizes out so you know what you're putting in your mouth. Find an interactive website to track your food and exercise (SparkPeople.com is my absolute favorite). I know how frustrating the scale can be. Sometimes it just doesn't move, or it moves 5 pounds either way in a week, or even in a day. The comforting part is that the scale is not the best way to measure your progress. Factors as seemingly unimportant as time of day, how much water you've drank (you actually need MORE to NOT retain water), how much sugar is sitting around your muscles, organs, and tissues, and other finicky details actually can make the scale go up. My advice? Step off of it (at least for a week or two at a time), and pick a better way to track your successes!! Best of luck to you! Here is a link that might be useful: Spark People

I'm so sorry about your Mom - and about everyone else going through this. It is so wonderful though to have this Forum to talk about these things. When my DD passed, I didn't even know about "firsts", until someone told me that the anxious feelings I was having at certain times during that first year, was my feeling her loss. I called her a Holiday Baby because she was born on the first of the year of the US bicentennial, and died on the US birthday. I still get anxious around New Year's because I keep thinking I'm supposed to do something for her. Then I end up going to the cemetary on the 2nd. Seems as though I have that, "it wasn't so bad" feeling and can then go do what I have to do. It's been a lot of years now, and with each year, it gets so much better. I meet people like yourself that are still going through the "firsts", and I just feel blessed that I survived that. It is VERY important to continue the traditions - to continue the celebrations. As the years go by, they will tend to become ways to share your Mom's life to the generations that follow. They need to know her and family traditions are a great venue for doing just that. Talking about your Mom amongst the family is an important release as well. Hugs to you as you go through this. Have faith that Mom is still with you, and smiling that the family is still going strong.

Thank you all so much for being here for me. It really is such a comfort. Jeannie and I talked for an hour today. Though it was hard, it all seemed to come natural, as it always has between us. I should have known it would be. She told me how much I meant to her and how I was the only one that she felt she could ever talk to about the hard things and it means so much to her that I'm there for her now. She asked if I would promise to be there for Jeff and Eric when it's over. I promised. Jeff and I have become very close during all this as when Jeannie wasn't strong enough to talk, he and I would talk. I'll keep calling him and checking on him. make plans for him to come out and visit us. Their son Eric is a very busy with his job and often travels, but I know he too will be there for his Dad. So will Jeannie's siblings and other family members. He told Jeannie today that he will not stay in their home after she's gone. I imagine he won't be able to bear being there without her. She said she told him to remarry as he's still so young. He told her no one could ever measure up to her, and I know he means that. I also told her how much she means to me, in detail. We talked about whether or not she should try another round of chemo, telling me what her original surgeon of six years ago told her yesterday after reading the CT Scans. He was very kind, telling her how he'd never seen such a fighter and he wouldn't tell her this if he didn't really feel it to be true, but at this point chemo would only make her sicker and probable shorten her life more. She's going to talk to her wonderful family doctor tomorrow and arrange to talk to the pastor that does the cancer therapy sessions as soon as she's back in town. We both felt she would be the best to understand her situation. She told me she was afraid the actual dying would be painful, so I recommended she make an appointment to meet with someone from Hospice. That way she'll know just what to expect and when would be the best time to start under their care and how she wants to go about it. We decided to talk every day we can. Something I wish I'd have done already, but as I said earlier I didn't want to cause more concern for her. We did cry a bit, but for the most part we had a wonderful conversation. She's going to have her son set up Skype for them so my daughter can talk with her, she's always adored Jeannie, and she and I both want her daughter to meet Jeannie. I know that will be good for Jeannie too as she has always loved children. When she and her hubby drove a semi together, she was trucker buddies with different classrooms around the USA writing them letters and sending special things from around the country to them to teach them about our country. It's just so hard to understand when someone so good and always thinking of others first, even when she didn't have much herself, to be taken when she could give so much more. But maybe that's why God is bringing her Home, for He has other plans for her from Heaven.