-=> Quoting Daryl Stout to Nancy Backus on 29 Dec 13  01:00:04 <=-   
      
    NB@> activity... but I'm still here...  not a single father (obviously) nor   
    NB@> even a single mom... married with one grown son, no grandkids yet...   
      
    DS> Chicken pox at 20 ruined fathering kids for me. It put me in the   
    DS> hospital for a week, and out of work at a local restaurant, and out of   
    DS> class at the local college for 2 months, by order of the health   
    DS> department.    
      
   You obviously had a particularly bad case of it.  I thought it was mumps   
   that was the fathering-killer disease... since it affects glands.  Daddy   
   had that when I was in kindergarten, some college student at Wabash   
   College (where he was teaching) gave it to him, and he brought it home.    
   After me the rest of the kids at the time got it... but Daddy went on to   
   father 4 more kids, so he didn't have the bad effects, after all.  He'd   
   had the chicken pox as a kid, when his brother brought it home from a   
   playmate...     
      
    DS> With some people, their pets are their kids...and discipline is   
    DS> important with both.   
      
   Particularly the loving training part of that...  :)  And the   
   consistency...    
      
    NB@> Even kids raised in "normal", two-parent, secure homes can end up   
    NB@> broken... sometimes it has less to do with the raising, and more to do   
    NB@> with the person him/herself...  But a child being lovingly raised even   
    NB@> by just one parent can grow up to be a really well put-together person.   
      
    DS> The peer pressure nowadays is horrendous...and I thought it was bad   
    DS> when I was growing up!!   
      
   Always has been, always will be... but one can learn how to not let peer   
   pressure push one into doing things one shouldn't be doing, and possibly   
   provide peer support for others wanting to do the right thing as well...   
      
    DS> Whether a single Dad or a single Mom, it still is a big   
    DS> responsibility. Even married, it's still a responsibility.    
      
   Quite true.   
      
    DS> Sadly, nowadays, most kids think a relationship and committment is   
    DS> measured in seconds, not decades. I've heard of cases where they got   
    DS> married Friday night, and were in divorce court on Monday. :(   
       
   Dunno about "most kids", but there is a disturbing trend to not   
   understand the concept of commitment... or to give up on it even after   
   years of marriage..  I've known too many friends and family members that   
   have gone that way...   
      
    DS> The Grinch stole my Christmas...basically, when my dentures broke.   
      
   That's a bummer...  :(   
      
    DS> And, with the place I get them prepared being closed until after the   
    DS> new year...not to mention having to then set up an appointment to go   
    DS> in, it may be 2 weeks before I can "fully graze" again.    
      
   Sigh...  Hope they can fix things efficiently for you...     
      
   My New Year's got a bit disgruntled, with my getting sick Sunday night,   
   and only now starting to be almost back to normal...  Ended missing out   
   on my extended family's Christmas get-together on Monday, too...   
      
   ttyl          neb   
      
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