Hugs to you, Christy. I cannot fathom what a deep pain it would be to go in to my son's room and know he'll never return. I understand the aching for the 'blankie'. My boy has hidden his somewhere safe - he's 17 and doesn't want anyone to know that he kept his blankie far beyond his pre-school days.

Your loss is our loss, too. Losing young men such as your son is unbearably sad.

Hugs,

-Penger

This isn't a spaniel. He's a Pointer. And yes, they are fast. :)

As a parent of three, now teen-aged, kids I agree that there ought to be 'adult only' areas. There is nothing more annoying than going out to dinner and sitting next to a group of adults and a toddler or two who is so tired that he or she cannot possibly behave. A word to the parents: GET A SITTER.

And yes, sitters are expensive and add to the cost of the dinner out. There are ways around that, however. One of the things that worked for my (now ex) husband and me was a co-op where we would sit for others one week and they for us the next. We'd schedule our 'adults only' time for the time when the kids were at the co-op sitters. We also stayed home a lot when the kids couldn't or wouldn't behave. It's a pain to not get your way -- to have to stay home when you wanted to go out -- even as an adult, but that's how raising kids goes. Eventually they become teenagers and never want to be seen in public with you again and then you can write to SALON and say how you love to go out without them now that they are teenagers (or, conversely, how you WISH they'd join you on a night out now that they are teenagers! LOL)