Waste-to-energy. Ensure there’s profit in turning it cleanly into energy and the problem is solved.

It was a pretty hilarious parody of what gals like my mom spent their days doing while we were in school. And the actual title says it all, so let’s give credit where it is due: “Mom Gets a Call.” Written by John Roberts/Clay Weiner. Starring John Roberts. Directed by Clay Weiner. Edited by Jesse Reisner. DP Drew DeNicola. Exclusive Premiere/HBO Comedy Festival. 2007

I’ve lived my fantasy concert experience. I’ve seen Bruce more than 20 times!

Devout, devout Roman Catholic (you couldn’t tell me a thing) and then when I was about 35, I read Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything, got to his succinct description of the age and origin and scale of the universe, and the scales fell from my eyes. The idea that there is a God in a form in which we are in his image just struck me for the first time and since as ridiculous. There’s so much more out there than that! So now I flirt with Buddhism.

We have no idea what her expenses are. The money balances the unfairness in the parties’ earning capacities, it doesn’t punish him and it doesn’t reward her for putting up with him. It lets her continue to live for 13 months, as best as possible, the same standard of living they shared during the marriage. And don’t forget, she has to pay taxes on that alimony and it’s tax-deductible to him. $401,000 after taxes is not much; beyond it, I hope she fights for everything she is entitled to in the equitable distribution of her marriage.

I would be disappointed if Hillary settled for mere VP. She won 49.1% of the Democratic primary vote (49.9% if you count voters in the caucuses, MI, and FL.) She is in a formidable position of strength—13.2M Democratic voters said they prefer her over Obama to be their Presidential candidate. So I hope she is negotiating hard for the retirement of her debt; her convention role; her right of first refusal to run, be appointed, or nominated to upcoming posts of interest to her, where she can be much more effective. The next 8 years are her prime time to make a tremendous positive difference in America; she can’t do that from the VP’s office.

money, no question I could buy time with money. For example, with an extra $100, I can have my home cleaned, and I’ve bought four hours’ time for myself :D

carol, I went to experts my mom and dad offered neither a good example nor spoken advice or support, and at the same time undermined my confidence greatly the upside of this was I learned early on to seek out good advice from experts, mostly in books but sometimes in person This served me very very well, all the way through law school and now 20 years of marriage and twelve of motherhood. I often wonder what my life would be like if, as a child, I knew my own heart, and felt free to listen to it. In my 40s, with therapy, I am just now developing an awareness of what my own heart tells me to do. And I concur, some people should never have children, but against all odds, we’re here and fabulous today and that’s what’s important girlfriend! :D

I think a lot of women share our experience and feelings, Jayne. But I do not find it as socially acceptable to say my mom did a poor job of mothering; more likely I am urged to get over it and move on. Yet, if the bad mothering I received was unimportant enough to be easily gotten over, why do I try to do better for my own children? Good therapy helped me see I shouldn’t treat my 12-year old daughter the way my mom treated me as a 12-year old. Acknowledging my mom was not a good mother put me on the road to not turning out just like her. I also feel lonely at times that others have these great moms/role models; we just have to look elsewhere for ours and luckily there are so many great women out there to inspire us. (I do wish wowowow would use a bulletin board format (like phpBB software) to ease the way for discussion among the many and growing number of readers here. It would be a good economic decision too, in that one of the many drivers of participation and loyalty on commercially successful websites is the ease of interaction and community one can find there.)

Can you recommend the book, it is not ringing a bell.

Your words really resonated with me, Jayne. (Wanting to participate in a thread with all of you about what we can learn from our troubled mothers made me realize that the wowowow Comments section isn’t really a bulletin board where conversations can take place. I think the readers and posters here have a lot to offer and I would like to see wowowow move to a discussion board format that makes it easier to have conversations on topical threads. phpBB Group, e.g., has great software for this.)

When I failed as a child to account for my mom’s narcissism, my dad would say, “But if you look half as good at 20 as your mother does at 40, you’ll be lucky.” Well, I do look like a much younger version of her, because I stayed out of the sun my whole life and she’s been tanning with baby oil for 40 years. But the most important thing is, I learned to be a decent person and I try hard not to inflict my pain on my own daughter. There is no suitable Mother’s Day card to buy when your mom made it clear from earliest memory that you were incidental. My MIL of 18 years has been a better mother to me than my mother ever was, and though she is a big pain in the ass, it was simple to select a loving card for her.

I used to test my memory by going thru the list, but at 45 and monogamously married 20 years, I’ve forgotten many of them. I’ve slept with about 25 men. (And it’s upsetting to me what a sheltered young girl did to get the approval she didn’t get at home …)