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Wherever Books Are Sold!Boomer Travel. Food. Laughter. Breaking the Empty Nest Rules!
Chef Ricardo makes Causa Limeña, delicious mashed potatoes prepared with lime, onion, chili and… CONTINUE READING >>
Chef Ricardo makes Causa Limeña, delicious mashed potatoes prepared with lime, onion, chili and a little oil, layered with avocado and chicken salad, then formed in a round mold. Ricardo constructed this like an artist working on a masterpiece, after which we destructed it like hungry children.
To see more dishes – and a tour of lovely Lima, Peru, click here.
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Join your GypsyNesters in Guayaquil, Ecuador!Discover the steep Cerro Santa Ana, a colorful, dynamic neighborhood of 444 steps with amazing sunset visits from the top.
Delight in the Parque de las Iguana where the reptiles were so thick that we had to be careful not to step on them.
And stroll the beautiful, romantic riverwalk – the Malecón… CONTINUE READING >>
As the gateway to The Galapagos, where every flight from the mainland begins or ends, it was easy to overlook Guayaquil on our way to see the enchanted islands.
But upon our return to the mainland we had the good fortune to take a look around Ecuador’s largest city.
This place, where the Guayas River meets the Pacific, has been an important sea port since before the Spanish Conquistador Francisco de Orellana arrived in 1538 and bestowed the catchy little title Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de Guayaquil upon it.
Even though Most Noble and Most Loyal City of St. James of Guayaquil does have a certain ring to it, over the ensuing centuries the name got shortened. Sign painters throughout the land celebrated.
Since we were staying downtown, that was the obvious area to focus our explorations.
Guayaquil is a modern major metropolitan city of nearly four million, so there are plenty of glass and steel skyscrapers, but there are also plenty of fantastic old buildings with classic Spanish, Italian and French influenced architecture.
In the middle of all the hustle and bustle we came to a lovely small park in front of the cathedral and got a big surprise.
Known by several names, El Parque Seminario, or Plaza Bolívar, because of the statue of the independence fighter Simón Bolívar in the center, it is best known as el Parque de las Iguanas, the iguana park.
Why? Because right in the center of the city hundreds of iguanas have laid claim to this tiny plot of land. They are so thick that we had to be careful not to step on them.
This is the oldest park in the city, and it looks like some of the resident iguanas may have been around for the entire three hundred years of its existence, but no one seems to know how or why they are here.
A couple rangers kept watch to discourage any iguana shenanigans, tail pullings or thefts, and one of them even gave Veronica a chance to feed one of the giant lizards.
Now our Spanish may be no muy bueno, but we were pretty sure that the sign behind her said “don’t feed the animals.” Perhaps we missed the part explaining “unless assisted by a ranger.”
Just a few blocks from the park we came to the river and turned to walk along the Malecón 2000. The new riverwalk converted the old, funky waterfront into a Guayaquil’s main gathering place.
Lush gardens, fountains, and historical monuments are spread along the mile and a half walkway that teems with visitors, both locals and tourists, day and night.
The crowds have in turn attracted a number of restaurants, bars, and shops revitalizing the entire area.
Beginning at the Torre Morisca, or Moorish Tower, we turned north and headed toward Cerro Santa Ana, the hill covered with brightly colored houses a mile or so off in the distance.
While we walked we noticed a strange thing happening, the river was flowing uphill, away from the sea and back toward the mountains. The explain at ion was not supernatural though, just the tide pushing its way several miles inland.
On our way along the malecón we couldn’t miss La Rotonda, the monumental monument that commemorates the 1822 meeting in Guayaquil of the liberators José de San Martín from Argentina and Simón Bolívar from Venezuela, when plans for South American independence were laid out.
But the highlight of our walk around Guayaquil had to be Las Peñas, the neighborhood on Cerro Santa Ana. Santa Ana Hill is in the oldest part of the city, and the stairs leading up the hill have become a community all to itself.
We must say, one of the most intriguing quarters of any city we have ever come upon.
The buildings along the stone staircase are all recently refurbished, so the little homes, restaurants, and shops gleamed in brightly colored freshness, while children played up and down the steps, and folks milled about chatting or grabbing a bite to eat down every little alley.
The vibrant barrio kept us completely enthralled until, before we knew it, we were at the top of the steps… all 444 of them!
Up there we found a small chapel and a lighthouse, but mainly the reward of a full 360 degree panoramic view of the entire city just as the sun was setting. Sometimes our timing just seems to work out.
Scurrying back down the stairs, in a race against darkness, we took a moment at the bottom to absorb the last drop of daylight and stroll up the historic street Numa Pompillo Llona for a block or two.
But soon the shadows on the cobblestones told us it was time to drag our tired feet back to the hotel.
They had covered a lot of ground, ground that we were glad we hadn’t overlooked.
David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com
Click here to see our full adventure with Road Scholar – a not-for-profit organization – through Ecuador, Peru, The Galapagos Islands, Machu Picchu and much, much more!
I like to flip through the channels when watching the evening news. The other night while practicing my thumb aerobics, I noticed that the exact same commercial was on two of the networks at the exact same time. That surprised me a bit.
What didn’t shock me was that it was an ad for a prescription drug.
So I decided to start paying attention. It seemed that at least half of the advertisements were for pharmaceuticals.
I also noticed that I must have at least half a dozen things seriously wrong with me and should be… CONTINUE READING >>
I like to flip through the channels when watching the evening news. The other night while practicing my thumb aerobics, I noticed that the exact same commercial was on two of the networks at the exact same time. That surprised me a bit.
What didn’t shock me was that it was an ad for a prescription drug.
So I decided to start paying attention. It seemed that at least half of the advertisements were for pharmaceuticals.
I also noticed that I must have at least half a dozen things seriously wrong with me and should be heavily medicated. If I could just learn to ignore the fact that I feel fine, I might have some hope for recovery.
No, seriously, we are being turned into a nation of neurotic hypochondriacs. From what I can, tell those of us who watch the evening news are really, really sick.
We need lots of drugs for our blood pressure, erectile dysfunction, depression, asthma, more erectile dysfunction, hair loss, blood clots, Alzheimer’s, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, yet more erectile dysfunction, fibromyalgia, arthritis, bladder control, enlarged prostate, the dreaded chronic dry eye, even more erectile dysfunction and worst of all — the single most horrible scourge of our modern lives — short eyelashes.
Good thing some company spent years of research and testing to develop a cure for that!
Yes, I viewed advertisements for cures to all of these ailments in a matter of days.
I remember back when Walter Cronkite and Huntley-Brinkley didn’t peddle drugs. I always thought it was because it was illegal, but it wasn’t.
Because the FDA required full disclosure of all of a drug’s effects to be included in advertising, print was the only viable medium for all of that information. The pharmaceutical companies pitched their products in professional journals and magazines, focusing their campaigns toward doctors.
In the 1980s, money began to flow from the drug manufacturers into direct-to-consumer advertising.
Originally this was applauded by consumer advocates as a way for more information to reach patients, but then in 1997, the FDA relaxed the disclosure rules for ads.
Instead of requiring all details to be disclosed in an ad, now only what the FDA deemed as “serious” or “common” side effects had to be disclosed in a broadcast advertisement, the details could be made available elsewhere. This brought about the “See our ad in Horse and Hound Magazine for more information” disclosures.
Still, the ads sounded kind of bad with all of those nasty side effects included, so the drug makers used a loophole. Reminder ads use simple name recognition by repeating the brand name over and over again.
A common tactic was the “Ask your doctor if this drug is right for you” approach. As long as the commercial never stated what the drug was for, those pesky side effects need not be revealed. The pharmaceutical companies used them with a vengeance.
I suppose the theory was that people want what they see on TV, even if they have absolutely no idea what it is.
Once the names of the drugs were sufficiently beaten into our brains, the companies began revealing the vile consequences of consuming their products.
We’ve now been completely desensitized to the point that ads routinely mention “possible death” and “sometimes fatal events” as a side effect; we Americans continue to rush out and ask our doctors to give us these pills regardless.
Are the pharmaceutical companies no longer concerned about the public’s aversion to horrible side effects? These fast-talking laundry lists of the dismal things that might happen if we consume their products should put us off — but we continue to consume.
Even when the cure is worse than the disease, Americans seem convinced that we need more and more pills.
I believe an attitude of “it must be good if it’s strong enough to kill me” has developed. Personally, I’m not wasting any of my hard-earned money on a chronic dry eye potion that can’t at least put me in a coma.
The end result of this? Americans are now by far the most medicated people on the planet. Around 130 million folks take a prescription drug every month.
More than 125,000 Americans die annually from prescription drug reaction and mistakes each year, representing the nation’s fourth leading killer. That’s three times the number that die in car accidents.
Are the ads behind this? Pharmaceutical manufacturers do spend a surprising amount more on marketing than research.
“We are taking way too many drugs for dubious or exaggerated ailments. What the drug companies are doing now is promoting drugs for long-term use to essentially healthy people.”
I didn’t make that up, Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, said it.
A September 2010 report from the Center for Disease Control reveals some alarming statistics. In the month prior to the survey, at least one prescription drug was taken by:
• 48 percent of Americans
• One of every five American children
• 9 out of 10 older Americans
• 88.4 percent of Americans age 60 and over used at least one prescription drug, more than 76 percent used two or more in the past month and 37 percent used five or more
• In 2008, $234.1 billion was spent in the United States on prescription drugs — more than double what was spent in 1999
How could we possibly need all of these drugs? Are we that much sicker than we were a couple decades ago?
Wait, maybe taking all of these pills makes us more healthy. Not by a long shot. Chronic diseases are way up. All the better to sell more pills, to the tune of more than 4 billion prescriptions written in 2011 alone.
America is nearly alone in this insanity. New Zealand is the only other country on the planet that allows this direct-to-consumer advertising of drugs.
A side effect of direct-to-consumer advertising is the financial incentive to the pharmaceutical industry to market new drugs as remedies for all sorts of maladies, including ones they were never intended to treat. They are literally selling the side effects now.
For example, the drug Latisse — initially tested to treat glaucoma — is now being marketed to improve eyelash growth. To complicate the situation more, there are side effects to the side effect that is Latisse.
A while back I made up the dreaded Periodic Interrupted Sleep Syndrome (P.I.S.S.) in a sarcastic effort to point out the absurdity of the syndrome society that we have become.
Now, I seriously expect to see an ad for a new drug to treat it any day.
I’ll be flipping through the channels (which I’ve discovered means I have adult ADD and need immediate medication) and there it will be.
On two channels at once… right after a news story about a new drug.
David, GypsyNester.com
YOUR TURN: You’ve heard what I’ve had to say. What’s your take?
Thanks to KPAM Radio in Portland and the fabulous host Rod McLaughlin for giving us the opportunity to talk about one of our favorite things – food!
LISTEN:
Thanks to KPAM Radio in Portland and the fabulous host Rod McLaughlin for giving us the opportunity to talk about one of our favorite things – food!
YOUR TURN: How’d we do? Did we inspire you to try new things? Is food an important part of your travel experience too?
The Galápagos Islands. The name conjures up images of rare birds, giant tortoises and fearless sea lions, but there is another side to this archipelago. A side may appeal to a geologist more than an ornithologist or herpetologist, because the Galápagos are a classic example of a geologic hot spot.A hot spot is where volcanic islands are formed as a… CONTINUE READING >>
The Galapagos Islands.
The name conjures up images of rare birds, giant tortoises and fearless sea lions, but there is another side to this archipelago.
A side may appeal to a geologist more than an ornithologist or herpetologist, because the Galapagos are a classic example of a geologic hot spot.
A hot spot is where volcanic islands are formed as a plate of the Earth’s crust slowly moves over a stationary magma source.
The molten rock is brought to the surface by what is known as a mantle plume, because it is thought to be rising directly from deep within the mantle. The result is a chain of islands that follows the direction of the plate’s movement. The further from the hot spot, the older the islands are, until they ultimately erode away into the ocean.
The Hawaiian Islands are the best known example of this phenomenon, but many other spots exist, some of which are not under water. Yellowstone is a prime example of a hot spot on land.
While the Galapagos are similar to these other spots, they are unique in that the hot spot occurs at a point between two of the Earth’s plates, the Nazca Plate, moving to the east-southeast, and the Cocos Plate which moves northeast.
This has caused islands to form in two directions instead of the straight line chain we see with Hawaii. The geology is further complicated by the Galapagos Spreading Center between these plates.
With The Galapagos being so active — the latest eruption was in 2009 –the landscape could serve as a textbook for identifying volcanic features.
Our introduction to these geologic examples came at Genovesa Island, one of the oldest islands, which is the rim of a giant, ancient caldera poking above the surface of the sea. T
he captain sailed our boat, Yolita II, through the eroded opening in the crater and into the middle of the volcano. From our anchorage the shape was unmistakable.
Darwin’s Bay on Genovesa Island. The island is one big crescent-shaped bay formed by the remnants of a large volcanic caldera.
As we moved southwest, toward the hot spot and the younger islands, we came to Bartolomé Island. Here formations such as Pinnacle Rock, known as “The Guardian of the Isles,” and a small submerged caldera that looks like a moon crater just off the coast, are obvious calling cards of more recent volcanic activity.
As we hiked to the top we found that much of the island’s topography looked otherworldly, with lava bombs and flows limiting the vegetation, and spatter cones leaving craters from slightly more explosive eruptions.
Just across a narrow channel, on the nearby island of Santiago, we found another barren landscape created by a very young, black basalt lava flow.
Young in this case meaning about 130 years, which may sound slightly older than young, but geologically speaking that is just the blink of an eye.
We were obviously getting very close to the hot spot itself.
The molten rock that formed this new piece of land when it flowed into the sea a century ago left numerous types of mind-boggling patterns and designs. The differences in the ridges, waves, and bubbles are caused by varying speeds in the cooling process.
Our next destination, the island of Isabela, is the largest of the Galapagos. Here the tops of the volcanos rise over a mile high above the sea. From our beginning at sea level on our boat we took a bus several miles inland, through dense jungle, up the slopes of Volcán Sierra Negra.
When the road ended we hiked about two miles to the rim of the active volcano, above the clouds. From that vantage point we could look down on the floor of the caldera which is covered with black, freshly hardened lava from the last eruption in 2005.
That crust is still hot, warmed by the massive magma chamber lying just below the surface.
Click here to see our entire Galapagos adventure!
To the north of the Sierra Negra Volcano, on the west coast of Isabela, we stopped off to check out the formations at Tagus Cove. By boarding small inflatable dinghies we could get up close views of tuff cliffs along the shore.
Tuff is a sedimentary form of volcanic rock that forms when ash is piled up in layers over the ages and compressed into soft stone. Because of its softness, tuff easily erodes into interesting and unique formations.
The various types of volcanic rock have also led to a peculiar situation where the beaches on the islands can range in color from black to white.
The crushed basalt of the lava flows makes for black sand, while the tuff creates deep reds and browns, and the classic white sand that comes from crushed coral and shells can be found throughout the islands.
We were now nearly on top of the hot spot. Right next to Isabela is Fernandina Island, the youngest and most recently active of all of The Galapagos.
We dropped anchor and made our way ashore at Punta Espinoza. While the extraordinary barren landscape of this newborn land would be expected to be the main attraction, it was overshadowed once we noticed the lava was alive.
Thousands upon thousands of endemic marine iguanas have made their home here.
They have adapted to this harsh and lifeless environment by taking on the exact coloring of the lava and learning to go into the sea to find food.
They are the only iguanas on Earth that go under water, and that trait helped us spot them. They have a habit of sneezing out the salt from the seawater as they warm themselves and dry off in the tropical sun.
The sound, movement, and dried up, white salt residue tended to give away their otherwise nearly perfect camouflage.
Having been to the source of these wondrous islands, the time had come to make our way back to the mainland, but not without one final example of classic volcanic landscaping.
Just before we reached Baltra Island and the airport, the captain took us on a quick circumnavigation of Daphne Major. This perfect cone rising out of the sea has the quintessential volcano shape.
It really does look as if it should be in a geology textbook.
Click here to see our full adventure with Road Scholar – a not-for-profit organization – through Ecuador, Peru, The Galapagos Islands, Machu Picchu and much, much more!
Delve deeper:
See the incredible work done at Giant Tortoise Breeding Center
Cavort with Sea Lions!
The Birds of The Galapagos – wild!
The Underwater World of The Galapagos
Our tips for visiting The Galapagos Islands – including what to pack
David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com
New Year’s Eve in The Big Apple and your GypsyNesters were seriously contemplating a Times Square, ball-dropping extravaganza. After a bit of research and chatting up of locals, we felt that wading into a crowd of a million people, getting frisked and herded into little fenced-in safety areas, then standing for hours with no restrooms, food or libation is no way to ring in a new year.
Even an article entitled “Fear Conquering & Ball Dropping,” as hilarious as that would be, could not entice us to spend that much time needing to pee.
So, what to do?… CONTINUE READING >>
New Year’s Eve in The Big Apple and your GypsyNesters were seriously contemplating a Times Square, ball-dropping extravaganza. After a bit of research and chatting up of locals, we felt that wading into a crowd of a million people, getting frisked and herded into little fenced-in safety areas, then standing for hours with no restrooms, food or libation is no way to ring in a new year.
Even an article entitled “Fear Conquering & Ball Dropping,” as hilarious as that would be, could not entice us to spend that much time needing to pee.
So, what to do? There are numerous clubs with parties and bands all over town, fancy restaurants with special dinners and enormous price tags, hotels with rot-gut champagne packages, cruises on the rivers and even a lung-busting midnight fun run through Central Park.
We chose a fast growing new tradition for our New York New Year revelry – walking across The Brooklyn Bridge. Both free of charge AND priceless.
Guided tours are available for this unique annual trek, but thousands of people each year bundle up and set out across the bridge on their own.
We began our crossing at about a quarter past eleven, had plenty of time for a leisurely stroll, as leisurely as possible among throngs of revelers on a December night above The East River, across the bridge and then get back to the middle in time for the countdown to midnight.
The views of the Manhattan skyline, the river, other bridges and The Statue of Liberty make for a fantastic walk on any day or night of the year, but since we had the chance, why not on the eve of a new year?
With ten minutes left until the big moment, we crowded our way to the center of the bridge. It was packed with revelers. Not a bad thing as the wind had picked up and the temperature dropped down, we gladly shared our body heat and excited smiles.
We, along with throngs of others, kept a close eye on the nearby Watchtower Clock in eager anticipation. We were not the only non-locals, it was like a mini U.N. meeting up there. Joyful noise in many languages floated around us as we gazed upon New York City dressed up in her holiday splendor.
Just before midnight an exuberant Japanese group began a chant and the countdown began. The finale of the count was easily understood in any language, HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Hugs and greetings were exchanged between strangers and loved ones alike while fireworks brightly exploded in several locations around the city. Champagne corks popped and toasts were offered as each group celebrated according to their tradition. Awesome!
The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States with construction beginning in 1869 and completed in 1883. At the time it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, 1,595.5 feet. There was some tragedy involved with the building of the bridge, designer John Augustus Roebling crushed a foot during the surveys for the project, contracted tetanus and died.
Before passing away he appointed his son, Washington Roebling, to carry on the project, but Washington was stricken with decompression sickness while diving below the river to work on the pilings. He was left paralyzed but communicated his wishes through his wife Emily, who supervised the project for eleven years. All told twenty seven people lost their lives during the construction.
Despite the tragedy, the bridge became an immediate icon with poems and songs written about it. Later, it became a movie star appearing in dozens of films including Deep Impact, Godzilla, I Am Legend, Cloverfield, Zombi 2, and Kate & Leopold.
Though we most likely stood out as visitors to the big city, no one tried to sell us the bridge like George C. Parker and William McCloundy are famously said to have done to gullible tourists back in the early 1900s. They must have been fairly successful salesmen since the phrase “I’ve got a bridge to sell you” became a part of the American lexicon. By 1949 even Bugs Bunny was trying to sell the Brooklyn Bridge to a naive tourists.
Wallets intact, we walked into Manhattan to find a spot to warm up, have a nightcap and relieve ourselves. That’s right, we managed to refrain from peeing off the bridge. We found a little place but, man, had the celebrations taken a toll on this bunch! Of the seven people left in the bar, two were asleep and four were incoherently drunk.
The other one was the bartender. He seemed OK. We ordered and sat back to watch a little bit of the show. After a bit of babbling and barfing from the characters, we decided it might be time to call it a night.
We didn’t try it on New Years for fear of the crowds, but right at the base of The Brooklyn Bridge, on the Brooklyn side, is Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, with arguably New York’s best pizza.
Now that’s a bold statement, New York is known for it’s pies and the joints that serve them, so we we happily delved into our latest chapter of the “New York Pizza War.”
Legend has it that the first pizza ever was served by Gennaro Lombardi at Lombardi’s in Little Italy way back in 1905.
Lombardi’s still serves up a mean pie, we know from experience, but hundreds of other places have sprung up to compete, forty six of which have Ray’s in the name one way or another. Ray’s Original Pizza, Famous Ray’s Pizza, World-Famous Original Ray’s Pizza, it seems like there’s one on every corner.
Our personal favorite among the contenders comes from John’s of Bleeker Street, still, we’re always on the lookout for a better pie, so a trip to Grimaldi’s was undertaken. Their website claims “the coal-fired oven at Grimaldi’s Pizzeria delivers a unique flavor and consistency that is just not possible from wood or gas ovens.”
Both John’s and Lombardi’s also use coal ovens, so we are inclined to believe the boast, but trying is believing.
Grimaldi’s is a tiny place under the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and is famous for not only the pizza, but the line waiting to get in. Even on this Sunday afternoon the line was several dozen deep.
After about twenty minutes we were inside. Ordering didn’t take much thought, the menu is limited to basically salad and pizza. No pasta here and the listed appetizers looked to be pizza toppings served minus a crust.
No problem, it’s all about the pie. In fact the center point of the restaurant is the line where they make the pies. It’s dinner and a show, watching the dough get pounded, tossed, covered and popped into the oven.
The finished product is one good pizza. Great cheese, excellent crust and sauce that would make a jaded New Yorker cry.
The Italian sausage is a favorite at Grimaldi’s, so we had to give it a try. They grind it fresh and toss it on raw to cook with the pie. Mama mia!
In general, our favorite pizza is the one we’re eating at the time, but with a little time to reflect we agreed that John’s is still our favorite. Their meatball is hard to beat. But Grimaldi’s is really close.
Maybe we should go back to each several times, just to make sure.
David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com
This week our family is celebrating a remarkable event, my parent’s sixtieth wedding anniversary. Only an extraordinary mixture of love, trust, faith, hard work, and — yes — luck could have made this event possible.I’m not going to attempt to analyze the inner workings of how a union can not only survive, but thrive over six decades, I am simply going to offer thanks.
More than gratitude for the care and security that I received, although that too often goes unspoken, I want to particularly express how grateful I am for… CONTINUE READING >>
“There are two lasting bequests we can give our children: One is roots, the other is wings.” – Hodding Carter
This week, our family will be celebrating a remarkable event; my parent’s sixtieth wedding anniversary. Only an extraordinary mixture of love, trust, faith, hard work and — yes — luck could have made this event possible.
I’m not going to attempt to analyze the inner workings of how a union can not only survive, but thrive over six decades, I am simply going to offer thanks.
More than gratitude for the care and security that I received, although that too often goes unspoken, I want to particularly express how grateful I am for their example.
When I met Veronica to say she had a dim view of marriage would have been a major understatement. As a child she lived through several divorces, and so had good reason to be highly sceptical of the institution. I, on the other hand, had never considered matrimony as anything other than a permanent proposition.
That viewpoint obviously came directly from my parents, not as something they drilled into my head, but as something I grew up observing. They didn’t preach their position, they lived it. That contribution to my upbringing is a huge factor in the happy fact that ten days after my parent’s celebration, Veronica and I will mark our own wedding anniversary of thirty years.
Mom and Dad raised five kids, and all the while provided invaluable instruction on parenting too. Again, not through teaching, but by example. I am the fourth born of the five, so I had the benefit of watching what came before me. I learned the rules and what to expect, and by the time I was a teenager, I knew the drill.
After high school, I was generously offered the opportunity to continue my education. Mom and Dad would cover tuition and a place to stay when school wasn’t in session, but once college was finished, or if I chose not to continue my education, it was time to grow up, be an adult and provide for myself.
This is a philosophy that we have adopted with our own kids as well. I am thankful that my parents had the confidence and faith in me to expect nothing less than independence and self-reliance. It has served me well throughout my adult life. I learned to fight my own battles, solve my own problems, and be proud of my ability to do so.
That sort of pride is not unseemly, it is a gift. A gift we lovingly pass on to their grandchildren.
Thank you Mom and Dad.
David, GypsyNester.com