i'm a mother of two: a son, 16-3/4, and a daughter 13-1/2.  I have been married 20 years to someone I have known since he was 12 and I was 14!  He is the love of my life and feel lucky to have found my partner going through this journey of life.  We are in a business that is not doing very well with a rough economy, but we keep trying every day to think and do things that will help our family.  We have always subsribed to the train of thought that if you can help someone else, do it.  We try to pass this on to our kids, and they are wonderful, but as I suspect most kids are, they tend to think the sun revolves around them, and them alone.  This kind of thinking amoung kids, at least where we live, seems to be the rule and not the exception.  I hope and pray that this too shall pass, as I once recall a teenage girl back in the '70's who reminds me alot of them.... Hmmm. Who could that be???     :)