Tonight we have a guest blogger

Via e-mail, my good friend from down South, will share some of her motherly wisdom...


Sent: Sunday, August 29, 2004 9:54 AM
Subject: After the dust has settled

I am now sixty years old, my boys are 19 and 22. Grandmotherhood could be the corner. Listening to what new mothers have to say, I smile. I understand the struggle. When I was raising my boys -- alone -- after divorcing a husband guilty of child abuse, I swam against the tide. There was no end to the advice I would get -- and the criticism. I was supposed
to discipline my boys. I was to slack. I'd be sorry.

When my younger son developed what appeared to be Tourette's syndrome, we went to a psychiatrist who treated him with dangerous drugs with serious side effects. When I decided to listen to my son and let him stop the drugs and drop out of school, the psychiatrist was against me. Called me a terrible mother. We followed our hearts. My son dropped out of school, got
his GED and all his symptoms disappeared. There are times when you close your eyes and follow your heart.

After all is said and done, I'm not sorry. My boys are wonderful, honorable, sensitive individuals. They are extremely creative and talented. They are also self-confident and they never had to rebel against my rules. In this house, rules were remarkably lacking. I believed in teaching by example and letting them learn from natural consequences. They never wanted me to disapprove of what they were doing. We had no violence in our house. I look back. Of all the successes I have had in my life, the one that counts the most for me is having raised two absolutely incredible sons. They may be famous one day -- or not. They have already made important contributions to their friends and family. What more could I possibly want? Only their happiness.

This lady has lived in several different countries, worked as a writer for the LA Times, a financial planner, and now as an artist; she speaks a few languages, knows how to cook, paint, sculpt, make movies, work a sound stage; you name it. She also rescued three dogs from certain death and I don't know anyone who doesn't like her. She forgot to mention that her sons are both totally gorgeous.