I can get so concrete in my thinking I don't know when folks are joshing or not but I hope you are putting tongue in cheek and trying to put an optimistic spin on it..... but I think we are still entrenched in 2008 like the movie Ground Hog Day. Bubbles bursting is what 2008 is about. Oh, I imagine we'll survive but it ain't gonna be a joyride for good long while regardless of what we do at this point to contain it. I remember 2008 as the year a lot of people, young and old saw their retirement portfolios and pension plans whimper and deflate or even disappear. It's the year that real estate stopped it's snowballing appreciation and started rolling back down the hill in price adjustments back to normalcy. That's when the real estate market gasped, and defaults started happening. It's when Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and sub-prime became household vernacular. It's when banks started closing and being bought out by those who were considered more potentially solvent and the bail-outs started. It's when I had this gut feeling and ran down to my bank and took out a long-term, fixed rate CD and locked in the last decent interest I'll see in a long time. And when money markets started paying monthly interest you could count in pennies. And folks pulled out of stocks and started buying bonds. What amazes me, however, is that my folks saw it coming way back in the 90s and warned me. And with only a few economics courses under my belt, I even saw it coming. I can't believe nobody else did. I'm not being political either. If it is a political issue it's just like obesity or heart disease. It didn't happen in four or eight or twelve years it was insidious but the warnings have been there for a long time, so I won't finger point. It's also about societal attitudes, personal attitudes, big business, global influences and how we connect with them and we are not always at liberty to control that. It's not something I'm terribly optimistic about but it's also something I try not to get sick over either. It is what it is and one just saddles up and ride through it as best they can. But, to me 2008 is when the proverbial poo hit the fan.

You are suffering a terrible heartbreak about the loss of yur dear son. I'm sure he was a fine person. It sounds as if you really are not sure of the cause of your son's death. I think it would be helpful to talk to people about it, but only those you know will be your friends and not judge you or your son regarding the reasons or confusion about it. Only those who will listen with care, concern and compassion. If you have a good friend or family member who could help you in this way, I think it would be helpful for you to talk about it. It's hard to carry these issues around with no one to share them with. If you have no one else, maybe you could talk to a grief counselor. As for the snickering co-worker, is it possible you mis-understood what she was saying, or that she was talking to someone else? It just sounds like such a low thing to do. Whatever it was, try to forget it. That type person is not worth thinking about. I'm sorry you had a bad week. Yes, you will always be Darryl's mom, forever. You still have a bridge to him, and it is your enduring love. Take care, and we're glad you've come here to share.

That is it. Thank you so much. Have you read it, by chance? What is your review?

After the bath, a couple shriveled, clearly not liking it. But it's definitely satisfying to see white dots floating in the water. I left them out to dry and started to pick more stubborn bugs from some of my plants. Most of them were motionless, so I assumed the soap bath did the trick. So I left the rest alone. Nuked all the soil of new pots with boiling water, followed by a 4 minute cook off in the microwave. I set them off to dry for a few days, and I tried to pot them up last night. And guess what? The mealies SURVIVE!! Except for those that I had picked on, the rest still had tiny bugs crawling in them. You can call them eggs, larvae whatever, I got fed up. Took out my tub of rubbing Alcohol dunk half a containerful with more dish soap, and yanked everything into the concoction. Rinsed them into another tub of water, and set them off to dry again. This time I inspected every single one. Miraculously, no white stuff or survivors. I'm guessing it worked. The poor remaining plantlets all don't look good. I guess only time will tell if these all can be saved. Will continue to update... Oh, and I also found infestations on my new jades too, thankfully I caught the spread and am now containing it, or at least am trying to..