Yesterday I went shopping with Torrey for a bathing suit. (Ugh...) But we ended up at Marshall Field's with a couple of new dresses. She paid for one, bless her, and I paid for the other, by check. The cashier looked at the check, and then me. "Can I ask you a question?" says she in a VERY quiet voice. "How long does the average person nurse?" "Well," I said, the AVERAGE person nurses only a few weeks, but the above average person nurses as long as the baby wants!" Turns out her son is "old" (she wouldn't even say how old -- I suspect well over a year), and she's getting flack to wean -- afraid he's too attached because he wants to nurse at night before going to bed. I assured her she was doing a wonderful thing, that I was quite convinced he would stop bf by the time he got his driver's license. Meanwhile, Torrey (age 18) is nodding and smiling and agreeing that this is a wonderful thing to do (she knows who pays her college education!! -- though she really does agree). "Oh," she said, "I feel SO much better." Perhaps the IRS won't be happy that I paid for a dress out of my personal account that says IBCLC on it, but because of my check imprimature, I was able to help a mom feel better! Jan Barger