Erin, you have nothing to apologize for. Again, it sounds like our stepmothers should get together and go bowling.(or whatever small-b bitches do, but I like to quote John Bender when I can.) Since she has entered my life, my stepmother has somehow unerringly managed to make everything I do both about her and reflective of some huge personal inadequacy of mine. She has leukemia now and I'm all full of mixed emotions about it.

Huh. Kinda like what you've done in life... Theater and 911 operator? The pop psychologist finds this interesting.

Yup. For a gal who rarely responds to my texts, emails, or letters there's a bizarre level of emulation there. I suspect that she's not in any way suited for either of those lines of work, but hope that college will be a good laboratory for exploring many different options.

My fish is dead because I wasn't paying enough attention to it.

askye, fish die. Seriously, you can pay close attention to them and neglect them and I believe the mortality rate is the same. I think the aquarium breeders plan it this way.

Oh erin, I am so sorry that what should be a happy event is being turned into an emotional minefield. I don't know exactly how to blow it off, but I hope you and your father can find a way to put it aside and focus on the joy of the graduation.

In Laura land my first born son has had a toothache the past few days. Clearly the first person on the planet to ever have a tooth in such pain. This happened on Friday when our dentist had closed for a 4 day weekend. They did get me in at another dentist who took x-rays and gave him scripts for pain killers and anti-biotics. He downed 4 days worth of Vicodin (maybe) in 1 day, went to some music event Friday night, and then slept for 2 days. I woke him to take the other drugs. All day yesterday and all last night and this morning, LOUD MOANING, etc. Oh and a break Saturday night from 11:30pm to 2:40am when he managed enough strength to go out to a friend's house. (no doubt for pain management) Yes, I am sympathetic, I have been there, but seriously he is shredding my last nurturing nerve.

askye, fish die.

I once had a client who had an aquarium that was so dirty, you couldn't see through it. Three fish swam in the murk. She didn't even know how to change the filter. When she was hospitalized, I took the fish. I read up on taking care of fish, cleaned the aquarium, put in fresh clean water, carefully put the fish back, fed them the right amount...and within two weeks they were all dead. Why? No idea. Fish just die, sometimes.

fish don't live long.

Erin I hope you can let go of the step mom and just focus on the actual person graduating.

I hope you firstborn is better or at a dentist Laura

My roommate's cat ate my beta, Solzhenitsyn. We figured he leapt from the Gulag Archibowligo into the jaws of death. (He'd flipped out of the bowl before, and I re-incarcerated him. To no avail.)

Don't name your fish after Russian writers, is my take-away.

One of my only non-crazy, non-FAC roommates and I had a goldfish for a very short while. On Christmas Eve, while we were both out with our respective families, it jumped out of its bowl. Fish are not notoriously long-lived.

Don't name your fish after Russian writers, is my take-away.

I shall file this crucial hint.

About to let him know again that he needs to shower so I can take him to the dentist. I am not going to call for an appointment when I don't know how long it will take to move him. He hasn't showered in days. Ewwww. I pity the dentist as he acted like I was out of my mind when I suggested brushing or at least swishing. Good grief child, man up. I have to say it here since I have to be all caring mom here. He totally inherited his pain tolerance from me. Yet, his need to make sure we all share the misery is annoying.

And then you get the fish that defies all that. A friend had a one lipped, differently-finned fish that lived forever. Outlived all it's bowl-mates. I don't remember how long S had this thing, but it was a remarkable length of time.

My roommate's cat ate my beta, Solzhenitsyn.

Somehow, I think Aleksandr would approve this fate...though he would NOT approve of me using his first name...given how, well, HIM he was.

Did I mention that I have a minor in Soviet Dissident Literature? Yeah. Me and Al, we're likethis.

Mr. Wiggles, my first pet sucked up a rock while his aquarium was being cleaned and drowned himself. I would not be surprised if it was Goldfish suicide.

My father decided he wanted tropical fish...the Bataan death march of maladies including ick and cannibalism ended them all. My father's solution was to take an actual sledge hammer to the aquarium.

I'm scarred for having fish...ever.