The flip side to all of this is my friend who started drinking after school at like 13, because once the school bus dropped her off at home, there was nothing to do.

Yep. In my hometown, you drank and blew shit up until you were old enough to drive. Then you drove out to a different field to drink and blow shit up, and maybe take a baseball bat to some mailboxes on the way home for a little something different.

{{{wee Corwood}}} That's terrible.

That sounds terrifying. Ugh!

If that was directed at me and not at the potty-training, I'm sure it was all in my head. I mean, it was in Montgomery, which isn't exactly a thriving metropolis, and the tunnel couldn't have been all that large. It was near an elementary school and a middle school, so I'm sure there was no real danger. And these days I can even say "fuck" without nearly peeing myself!

Corwood, you've set off shivers of sympathy off in me.

Ah, it's all Freudian ancient history. Think of what Hitchcock could've done with it, though!

HOW. HOW DID YOU GET HIM TO USE THE THING???????????????

Honey - ship her here for two weeks this summer. When you have her back, she'll be potty trained.

Better yet, I'll take two weeks this summer and bring Em. We'll help you get settled after the move.

And at some point, leave Pete and P alone with both girls for hours while you and Jilli and I shop.

Yep. In my hometown, you drank and blew shit up until you were old enough to drive. Then you drove out to a different field to drink and blow shit up, and maybe take a baseball bat to some mailboxes on the way home for a little something different.

So, this is common, then? That sounds just like where she's from.

If that was directed at me and not at the potty-training, I'm sure it was all in my head.

It's doesn't matter -- scary is scary!

Yeah, but it's good for kids to deal with scary--especially all-in-the-head scary, because then they learn you can be scared and keep going. That's an important lesson. Parents have to keep kids safe but allow them to face real fear and conquer it. You parents have a TOUGH JOB.

Yep. In my hometown, you drank and blew shit up until you were old enough to drive. Then you drove out to a different field to drink and blow shit up, and maybe take a baseball bat to some mailboxes on the way home for a little something different.

Drank, smoked up, and burned things. Then we drove to the river or to the shale heaps and gravel pits and drank, smoked up, and burned things. So yeah, I'd say common.

It's doesn't matter -- scary is scary!

Childhood is often terrifying!