Amanda and Baileigh gave me this little bear with a  t-shirt and Baileigh's hand print on the front.  Pretty cute huh.

I can hardly believe it but today is the last day of school here and now all the mother's have to figure out what to do with their children all summer long.  We now have a senior, junior, sophomore, 8th grade, 7th, and 3rd.  It is so exciting watching them grow up and explore their interests, as long as the interests are in the right direction and so far they are all, right on track.  I just love being a grandmother as it is the best profession one could have, wonderful fringe benefits, lots of love, hugs in abundance,  and I could just go on and on, you know us grandmothers.



Recently in a large city in France, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym.  It said, "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"  A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.  To whom it may concern, whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans.)  They get pregnant and have adorable baby whales.  They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp.  They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia.  Whales are wonderful singers and have been recorded CD's.  They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans.  They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in their world.  Mermaids don't exist.  If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis.  Fish or human?   They don't have kids, not to mention, who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store?  The choice is perfectly clear to me:  I want to be a whale. 
We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, dinner with the man I love, and a piece of chocolate with my friends.  With time we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies.
So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy.