oh I got LOTS of pictures of her already. She is SO YOUNG, I never had a little tiny one like that before and she does things I have not seen with the others. She is her own little Precious. If only you could see her right now. I had to take the keyboard half in my lap and she is taking up the upper half of the keyboard with her head that lays there :-) yes Kristy...I am a person anyways that thrives when I can give someone Love. Love comes in ALL ways. For ALL PEOPLE and Animals. Sometimes it might be a hug, a smile or just a hello that shows someone...hey, SOMEONE cares about me. Lucy

A student of mine died this way about 17 years ago. Not long after, similar deaths occurred with 2 other kids, but no one ever really confirmed what happened in the latter 2 cases. Unfortunately, it's one of those things that will persist in spite of our warnings, but at least we can talk to our kids about it. The truth is, most of them already know it's dangerous which is probably part of the allure. I'm very sorry this happened - senseless, preventable deaths are so awful. It would be great if no child ever sniffed from a whipped cream can, drove too fast, drank alcohol, tried drugs, took chances with strangers etc but the reality is that young people are particularly vulnerable to such things and will continue to make bad choices from time to time as part of their maturation process. The best thing we can do is keep the lines of communication open and stress the importance of making good choices by modeling that, and hope that the bad choices they DO make will not bring them harm. I shudder to think what could have happened to me from some of the things I did when I was young, and I wasn't anything close to a rebel. I was just one of the lucky kids that didn't wind up a negative statistic. My warmest thoughts to you at this time.

I read the article twice and I still don't see where he's " bashing her character ". IMO, it's another one of those sensationalist articles that turns out to be nothing like the headline suggests, and exists only to draw attention and stir up dissention. I feel sorry for the young lady, and I'm sure it was a huge disappointment, but why would she want to keep the medal - as a reminder that she lost ? I'm certainly not a follower of Mike Rowe - too rough around the edges and too full of himself to suit me - but I think we need to stop reading things into these articles that aren't really there.

I gave up my car when I moved to downtown Charleston, so I spend a lot of time just walking and riding my bicycle to get around the city. I used to do yoga and ballet, but thus far have not found any classes here that I can afford. I do enjoy cooking, but do not like to bake, as I seem to have no "sweet tooth." I love to try new dishes. I am in a lively French conversation group that meets weekly; our "leader" is a French native. I also enroll each semester in history classes at the nearby college, which is only 7 minutes away by bicycle. That enables me to utilize the wonderful college library. I enjoy being on campus and talking to the students. When I have free time, I also like to explore on foot the historic neighborhoods of Charleston, and take in the gardens. Day-trips with friends to visit the plantations are also enjoyable. I used to dabble a bit in genealogy, but seem to have gotten away from that. I do like to "surf" the Internet and am in a few "chatrooms" (forums).