Not to get maudlin, but I haven’t had an opportunity to express to you my sadness at your mother passing, which you shared here awhile back. So that I don’t get into maudlin, let me try to keep this succinct (me, who’s known among many for being much more toward the loquacious side), and say that my mom died a couple years back, and thank whatever God or gods, my “guy” at the time (now my husband) when she’d had a stroke, brain surgery, and was in failing health for various reasons (mostly 4 bouts of cancer over her lifetime), said: “We’re taking her with us, not putting her in some facility.” Taking care of her was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and the best thing I’ve ever done. It was 24/7 care and we weren’t rich (certainly aren’t now, my career and health suffered). But let’s get to some great stuff! My wonderful dad had died ten years prior, and mom moved to Tucson AZ to be with her sister and extended family. (I was off in NYC at that time. I moved to Phoenix AZ after 9/11, when my freelance contracts tanked due to the aftermath…ugh, move on.) My mom held true to her Democratic roots despite ten years around a rabidly Republican family (who all loved her, but still!). She was soooooooo happy to be with me and my guy and be able to criticize Bush et al freely, and since she’d had the stroke, she wasn’t prone to keeping her mouth shut anymore! It’s like it disengaged a part of herself that had been repressed most of her life. But as for “teaching parents well,” I think I did a wonderful job of that with her (as she did with me, by the way). Just as one simple but not insignificant example, she met some of my gay friends and realized that they were just nice, good, regular people. Go figure! Anyway, I don’t make much headway with my Republican diehard family members, I appreciate that other sides of the family tree have stuck to their blue-collar Irish-Catholic Democratic roots, but I don’t give up. Heck, I was in Jr. High and buying All the President’s Men and Watergate Tapes transcripts (and actually reading them). Red flags! I even met a Texas cousin for the first time and after the honky-tonking was going strong, he turned to me and said: “When your mom said you live in NYC, I thought you’d be real weird. But you’re real NORMAL!” I never gave much credence to whatever is considered normal, but I did have to laugh at that. Ok, my last “anyway…” is that I miss my mom, I miss my dad, and I know how fortunate I am to have been raised by two good people, regardless of what psychologic hell both of them may have inflicted on me ;) Meanwhile, I’m keeping to Mom’s Democratic roots. One of her favorite pet peeves was when Bush would talk about “how hard a job it is” to be president. She railed on him. After her brain surgery, which determined her stroke, she would be asked all those questions…….what day is it? What year is it? Who’s president?...and it happened to be the week that Reagan died, so her answer was: “Well, the President sure isn’t Reagan cuz I’ve seen his funeral stuff 80 times this week!” Geez, I can’t believe I’m even sharing that on this forum. Can Reaganites take a joke from an 83-year-old trying to get out of the hospital and go home? We’ll see.

Best to you, Klytus.

Well, not exactly, but if the habit fits?

Nah, in my response to you, was really just referring to that PRIDE thing. Often a conflated trait, eh? We're supposed to be proud of our accomplishments, yet not TOO proud...etc.

I've been musing on PAC ads I wish I could produce. Maybe one around: "What if they gave a war and everybody within fighting age HAD to come?"

Listened to Crosby, Stills & Nash earlier tonight...can't decide which is more important--to teach your children well, or your parents well. A conundrum.

but that may NOT be exhibiting my *humility* and we all know where THAT leads...ya know, to one of those deadly sins...going beforeth a fall, pearls and swine...nasty stuff!

1) Don’t ever defend Obama. If you do, you are a delusional hero worshipper.

2) Don’t ever criticize H. Clinton. If you do, you are anti-feminist.

3) Don’t even think about gauging McCain’s worthiness apart from his time as a POW. Anything else he has done in his life that could be either proven wrong or, at best, suspect is automatically cancelled out and forgiven. (related subnote: don't speak out against the Iraq war; if you do, you do not support our troops.)

4) Don’t buy a home. You may not be able to pay the mortgage and perhaps there’s a dirty crook involved in the transaction, whether you knew it or not, or whether it’s true or not.

5) Don’t buy several homes! How will you track of all those house keys?

6) Don’t show your educational credentials or intellectual capabilities. Apparently, either or both could be just plain BAD and, in any event, you might just be or become one of those dreaded elitists.

7) Don’t confess anything related to having once been a DFH. Buy new buttons: "Make War, Not Love."

8) Don’t practice civility. It simply doesn’t get as many page clicks.

Next essay: “What I Did on My Summer Vacation.” Executive summary: “Spent way too much time at Salon.com.”

And I've just learned a lesson about doing all the catch-up on the threads before writing!

Best to both of you.