Hi All, I want to Thank Pat Bull, especially, for the note on her reflections. I have been struggling and struggling with how to set about the future and 'really is it worth it?' when I have bad days. After reading her post, I realize that no matter what I chose, if it is worth it, important or involves people - it is going to be hard going and there will be days when I ask 'is it worth it?. Pat Bull and the others on this list who have come before, have paved the way for those of us coming up, in some ways you have made it easier - many ideas, information, books, etc. are out there that never were in the past. Heck, breastfeeding is in the mainstream news, which was almost non-existant in the 70s when I first became a mother. I shall continue on and, even if it hurts my head when I'm hitting it against the 'wall' of ignorance and I feel frustrated and angry when I have a bad day, I will look up at my Anne Geddes poster (They Grow Like Weeds) above my desk, to remember why I do it. We must all remember one important thing that I tell my children - doing ('fill in the blank', getting married, having children, maintaining your religious faith) is important because not only because of the positive wonderful things they give to you, but because the imoral, un-educated, and un-caring will continue to propogate their kind and their ignorance without a second thought (or for that matter even a first thought) and those of us who are willing to care and go the extra mile need to push on despite the odds, to keep the message getting out. Even if there are days when it does not appear to be! I received the advice as an idealistic teen, worried about bringing children into a world going wild from an older wiser woman, now I am passing that onto my children. This is one of the things that I like least about our current American culture, the lack of 'older, wiser' women willing to mentor and 'pull under their wing' a younger woman. It is one of the reasons I still attend LLL and why I am here, I need you guys and maybe I have touched one of the moms that I have encountered. And that is all that it is about. Leslie Ward Vine Grove, KY "The art of being a parent is to sleep when the baby isn't looking." Anonymous