If you stop and think about it, it smacks of the mentality of another era. A century ago, children were the only form of social security aging parents had. If you lost an only child, and a spouse, you were in a dire situation. On top of that, great importance was put on perpetuating family lines and the lost of an only child who also happened to be male was probably considered an even more tragic event. I'm sure parents loved their children then as much as they do now, but children were also potential commodities. In my own parent's day, an orphan or abandoned child was often released to the care of distant kin, or just as often non-related adults to help out on farms, or in wealthy households. But yes, also like you are suggesting, it's a phrase used to render up a 'worse' tragedy than the death of a child who had siblings. And, it is insensitive to any parent of multiple children who has suffered losing one.

Not that this is any help, but...me and my wife have this term we call 'trusting your mother'. Background: My wife's mom plays a bit fast and loose with reality. She gets an idea (like, say, buying a house), parlays it into a huge all-encompassing scheme, and then (for the sake of argument -- not a real example) blows all her money on a trip to vegas. Or something along those lines. So if we happen to get pulled into all her shenanigans, believe her, go along with her, trust her, and then get burned in the end -- well, we're guilty of 'trusting her mother'. We *know* what she's like; we just get suckered in because the archetypical 'Mother' wouldn't screw us over either through malice or through sheer cock-ups. Unfortunately we don't deal in archetypes in the real world. So, anyway 2 things: as far as generic forgive and forget -- you know what this person is like. Your kids know what she's like as well. Make any plans for the kids future *counting on the fact* that their BM won't help in any way, won't be involved in any way. Hopefully (at least my opinion based on your brief blurbs) she *won't* be involved. (In as much as we'd like other people to live out satisfying morality plays we script for them in our heads, the best way to deal with these folks I've found is *not* to deal with them, preferrably from a great distance away.) If she is involved in some constructive manner, then, hey, pleasant surprise. At no point should you depend on her or trust her to carry anything through, however. If you do -- well, you're trusting your mother. The other thing relates to your statement "their continual abuse, stupid allegations, and childish theatrics". Not sure exactly what you're referring to here, but if they're causing you real problems, costing you real money (beyond caring-for-the-kids money -- I mean lawsuits and such), then talk to a lawyer or a mediator and find out if there's anything you can do about it. Be prepared for the real consequences of this. (Personally, if it's just, as my sainted uncle wound say, 'happy horseshit' I wouldn't mind so much -- I'd sit back and laugh as these folks dug themselves ever deeper into petty ridiculousness. But if it's serious, then treat it as serious and maybe they'll learn to play nice.)

Peke, Skeeter was adorable and loved to play fetch. He had silky hair on his head and tail but a little bit wavy and coarser on his body. I miss his kisses and how he understood my moods. He was deaf since I adopted him at 17.5 weeks and had seizures but he was so intelligent and loved me and his life. I miss him so much. Yes, dogs are so happy to see us when we come home and give us so much joy and love. That is wonderful your first Pekingese lived until 18. I hope my Sassy who seems to be healthy (Maltese like Skeeter) lives until 18. She turned 12 on 12-01-13 and still loves to go for walks and car rides but I can see she is slowing down. So sorry for your loss.

In the last 2 years we've completely gutted and redone 4 bathrooms. They were all red and green saltillo tile and used to look cheap and cartoonish. The bathroom are now neutral, but far from boring. My theme for the new bathrooms was modern moroccan. I love color and have a red sofa, orange chairs, teal headboard, lots of color in upholstery and drapes, etc, but having the permanent items in the house be such strong/bossy colors is just too much.