touching story about the soup kitchen friend, lucky to have his life, sounds like a hard life, but he's somehow not so resentful about it, that's resilience and impressive.

mommar, parenting is painful. so hard to know where to draw the line between guiding and controlling. we have to try to keep them safe, but we know they might choose to do opposite of anything we say to do. someone who seemed to know what they were talking about told me to just say, "I know you'll make the right decision." uuurrrrgghh, going to be easier said than done. Cuz you know they're not gonna make the right decision! But we're supposed to let them make their own decision. My parents kindly ignored me more than not, I understand now that was not easy for them, my mother probably worried and wondered where i was every night. And I made it clear I wasn't planning on listening to their advice. But i did somehow become responsible for my own ****** choices.