Oh Robin, thanks so much for sharing this wonderful occasion with us. Your description of the gowns and the decorations, the music, and the beautiful chapel were marvelous. How wonderful to be a part of such happiness. I got teary-eyed while reading about it. I'm so glad you had a good time; I hope the newly weds have a long, happy marriage ahead of them.

"I keep seeing Boots under the azaleas where he liked to be while we worked" That reminded me of my Earl. My dear Earl was a pound kitty, a mere 5 weeks old. He was due to be euthinized because "he bit a girl"...give me a break! Anyway, I convinced the shelter to let me adopt him. They wouldn't release him until he was "tutored". How can they do that to a 5 week old kitten? Two days later after he was "tutored" I brought him home. He became soooo ill...off to the vet...Earl has distemper, from the shelter, plus he was too young to be "tutored". For weeks I nursed Earl and injected fluids under the skin. He grew fast and was the sweetest little guy in the world. Because of the neurological damage from distemper Earl walked like a drunk. 2 years later he became very ill and he didn't make it. Funny thing about Earl was every evening when he came home he set off the light sensor in front of the garage. That's how we knew he was home. After Earl died, that light went on and off - all night - for days. We finally had to turn it off. Edna

Guidelines for a cookie exchange? Yeah....no jello jigglers, no pretzel rods dipped into cheap melted chocolate, no pretzel wreaths, no flourescent popcorn balls made with jello, no rice crispie or any other cereal based bars, even if they do have crushed peppermint in them, no haystacks made from chow mein noodles and melted almond bark. I am sure there are more but I can't think of them right now! And yeah...it IS all about presentation. As I learned from funeral lunches (well really I knew ti way before that!) Put a table cloth on the table and some sort of centerpiece,e ven if it's only a pumpkin and some fall leaves and people think it's fabulous! many years ago, a friend and I particiated in a Christmas bazaar where the cost of the space went to charity and the entrance fee from the buyers, and what you sold you got to keep. We were not really into tiny painted birdhouses or dressed dolls etc... what we sold was really pretty lame... On the day of the sale I got there about an hour before Liz and set up the booth...had a frame so I could raise a checked table cloth high so it could be seen....and we were swamped. Liz said when she came all she could see was this great mob around one booth....and lo and behold it was our booth. Presentation...pricing and product. Linda C

I'm trying to get my hands on the records, but I'm having a hard time accessing them online and I don't live in that State anymore, so I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get the real story. Yesterday was my birthday and I didn't hear from my Dad all day. Nothing today either. I'm a little bit shocked that he didn't at least make an attempt to sneak away and wish me a happy birthday. I'm not sure why I'm surprised, but I am. I was thinking today about this friend of mine. For about a year he dated this girl, and for the first 4 months or so, things were really, really great between them. She was attentive and affectionate and he really fell hard for her. Then as time went on, she grew distant. She started flaking out on him. She'd make plans to come to see him and then not show up and not answer the phone. Whenever he would call her out on her crap, she would have "panic attacks" and cry. It made him feel bad and then she could avoid the confrontation because he didn't want to cause her to have another panic attack. He ended up catching her cheating on him. He broke up with her, but eventually took her back and then she cheated again, so he did finally break up with her for good. But in the mean-time, he kept hoping that things would go back to being the way they were during those first 4 months. He had a hard time accepting that the person he really wanted her to be was not the person she actually was. I think maybe that is the problem I'm having with my Dad. I'm wishing that he was the kind of Dad that I want him to be and that I feel he has the potential to be. I'm wishing it so much that I keep allowing him to throw me under the bus and treat me badly. I keep hoping that things will change and that he'll finally see the light. Obviously that is not going to happen, so I'm going to do my best to cut him out of my life and to not let it bother me. I don't really know if that is possible, but I do know that I can't let him continue to cause this kind of turmoil in my life. It's so toxic. He lies to SM and he lies to me and my brother too. He tells her what she wants to hear and then he tells us that he is sticking up for us. He talks out of both sides of his mouth. I can see his flaws and I always know when he is lying to me. He's not a very good liar. I'm just so torn. I wonder why it is that a parent can continue to disappoint a child and mistreat them and that child still has a heart-felt desire for that parents love and approval.