we really don't "know" so many things in life. we can adopt the attitude that life is a gift. even our challenges are gifts to us. I think the healthiest tact to take is immense gratitude for life.

it is not about the potential parents (get over yourselves!). it is about life's "yearning to exist".

to be parents who guide their child(ren) in a healthy way, we need to set boundaries. we must not think that any of the challenges in our childrens' lives (no matter how painful they may feel)merit our "fixing". we come to earth to learn.

each and every one of us. it doesn't have to be easy (never really is). mistakes we make only encourage us to be stronger and move further along the path.

listen to your truth. follow you heart. be humble.

well said Carey!!

why play the game as others have lain out the rules? it's so hard to stomach why people sell their very individuality in order to "succeed". true success is living in concert with one's own truth.

"And who are all these people you are supposedly disappointing, anyway? Stop living for them. You are God's child, not their child. You are a child of the universe. You are made of the stars and the moon and the earth; you are a person, unique and unprecedented in human history." !!!!!

I have a sense that the LW would make a great free-lance writer. 'course, that doesn't matter at all. what matters is that LW and ALL of us trust our own knowing of what is right and what is wrong for us in our lives. listen to your body (it doesn't lie). and good luck!!

I know that when a (here's my politically incorrect stereotype) 'good ol' boy' calls me Sweetie, far from purring a response, it makes me incensed! I am not always in touch with that fact until the conversation has ended and I am left to myself seething, "I am not YOUR Sweetie/Honey/Darlin', etc..."

The word(s) definitely are diminutive. I feel like a little girl who is getting the attention of her daddy. Does he approve of me? Do I even have a voice? Am I worthy of his respect?

So listen-up guys-- Do Not call your colleagues, or women in your life whom you are not intimately connected with Sweetie!!!

It is belittling and marginalizing and inappropriate.

yeah- daddy issues are something that women do have to grow beyond-- but language is powerful and people have the choice to bring consciousness into the words they speak.

Personally- I would like nothing more than to see Barak Obama in the White House...but I think it is relevant that he is being called upon to reflect on his inappropriate use of language. What I am saying is that a professional reporter (or any woman) is not one of his daughters and deserves way more respect than to be referred to with such "terms of endearment."

well in my original post I certainly am using my "voice"- stating my opinion.

I think the PSA to all guys rattled you.

And btw, it is not easy to speak truth to power! (that statement is gender-neutral)

I think one of the big unspoken issues here is who will provide for/take care of dad in the future.

yes, there seems to be no inheritance that will come to LW or her/his offspring- but is there even enough money to see dad through the rest of his life?

and if the house is for sale, where will he live? if he did get half of the money from the house, would that afford him enough money to buy another- or pay long-term rent?

and if his health is failing, does that leave the adult child in charge of finding the help dad needs, and possibly a facility where he can we well cared for...and must the she/he pay for it?

it also seems to me that with wife #2 out-of-the-picture, the burden certainly does fall on the blood relative, and that might be an unexpected burden, indeed--(hence the intense anger)

Only having read through the first page of responses due to lack of time, forgive me if I am redundant...

can't you get a "religious exemption" (or, more truthfully in LW's situation: moral or spiritual exemption)from the class?

This even is acceptable in matters concerning the FDA and laws on childhood vaccination.

One can claim a religious conflict (in this case, not eating meat- nor using any animal products) and be exempt from vaccinating their children.

Any respect, as an animal lover- I am grateful that people such as the LW will be providing good, ethical medical care for the animals in the world.