You are large. You contain multitudes. That's what I for one, (among many) love about you.

My dear LW, I think Cary has given you wise advice. Take heed. It's useful to think of the situation from your boyfriend's point of view, and try to find it an admirable, rare thing that he wishes to spend time with his family. If the "sweet thing" you two share is true, you'll spend a lifetime of holidays together, and with his family too. Let this one slide. Help him pack. Have a smile on your face when you part at the airport. Plan to celebrate together when he returns.

You could use this time alone to reflect on your own life, think about the marriage you are still in, and think how to bring it to resolution so that you, at least, can get free (if that's what you want). Reflect on what you and your boyfriend have now, where you're going, what's next. You get the idea.

The time alone and the quiet are gifts, if you can let yourself accept them.

Make plans with good friends. Volunteer somewhere. Read. Catch up on movies, or your sleep. All will be well.

Oops! I posted before I saw yours. Well, great minds...and all that. Cheers!

...HRC said, "Live, from New York, it is Saturday Night!"

It is.

The first time in SNL history?

Just like someone's mother would say it trying to be hip like all the kids. Ick.

"Lame! But I liked when some of the clothes looked like they were vaporizing!"

GO OBAMA '08

Not wanting to pile on you specifically, but you expressed (no pun intended!) a sentiment that many share: that since breast feeding is "natural" lactation consultants are a superfluous affectation of the well-off (you didn't say that exactly, I know).

The human species has gotten this far because the majority of women throughout history lived in communal/village circumstances where experienced elder-women taught and supported them: mothers, grandmothers, aunts etc. The chances of successful nursing for women with no such support were grim, and of course, many babies did not survive for this reason. Often, if a mother couldn't nurse her infant for whatever reason, another women in her family who had recently given birth would step in. My grandmother didn't produce enough milk, so my father was nursed by his aunt. And women who were well-off had wet-nurses to do their nursing for them.

Breast feeding may indeed be "natural," but it is still largely a "learned" skill, both for infant and mother. Lucky that human beings are social animals whose survival depends on sharing information and learning from others. In the modern world absence of the extended family, tribe, or village, we hire.

Yes! You make an excellent point. La Leche League thrives and IS free-- classes, mothers groups, or telephone consultations as many as you need day or night (these are volunteer, experienced women who nursed their own children, i.e. "village elders".) Also, many (not all) ob nurses are skilled in and supportive of breastfeeding. We had both kinds of (immeasurable!) help when our little ones were born.

Don't know how I could've forgotten, lol.

"...yes, Senator Clinton has run from the armoured plane that is the Senate, across the long, unending tarmac of this primary season, head ducked-down, bullet-points in hand, unceremoniously dodging fire from the pundits, evading the sniping that comes in hostile campaign territory, and corkscrewing around every danger in the war-zone that is presidential politics. She's a combat-tested warrior who never stops when her lies and distortions explode all around her."

because her campaign is strapped for cash and this is cheaper than creating a new ad. Sad.

Watching the video after reading the blog, I have to say that there is something "we're real men, we're white men!" about it to me. Everyone in the audience clad in the same yellow shirts attending a "pro-war" rally (who champions war? and from vets?), the clear implication that, by contrast, he wouldn't want his little boys to emulate Tiger Woods (or Obama)-- hey, why the hell not? Two successful men who worked hard all their lives for everything they've earned?, aren't those supposed to be (co-opted) Republican values?-- and, most chilling, the crowd's reaction: that whoop and guttural cheer. It set the hairs on the back of my neck up straight.

I too am an Obama supporter and I can feel your frustration and anguish at this whole ridiculous "debate" from here.

But consider, or re-consider your conclusion.

Since you did not watch the debate, you may not know that as much as he could, Obama DID call out the b.s. for what it was, several times, in his scholarly, measured, unflappable way.

While I can understand that it would have been a thrilling television moment for the many many people who want some sort of major drama from a "debate"-- we all know that if he had removed his mic and walked off, the MSM would have made THAT the major story until the next ice age: OBAMA WALKS OUT! GIVES UP!! RUDE! ELITIST!! TOO GOOD TOO DEBATE!! TURNS HIS BACK ON AMERICA!! and all the rest of the nonsense I don't even want to keep imagining. And it would have started immediately as Chuck n' Georgie turned to HRC, waiting there with her Chesire Cat smile, "So, Senator Clinton, what do you think of Sentator Obama WALKING OUT ON THE AMERICAN PEOPLE?" And she would have been oh-so-gracious about it. Not.

No, he handled himself with grace and poise, countering in a way that minimized any damage and got through it. I've no doubt that he wishes he could have fled the farce.

a $4,000 bowling bag, to me.