I'm in my 60's. We never travelled, but we heard rumours of wondrous loot a few blocks over. I think the change happened when parents started driving their kids everywhere, including to the best trick-or-treating spot. My daughter lives in a neighbourhood that's famous for having outsider kids show up. I'm filled…

I used to sit around sobbing, knee deep in full-sized chocolate bars, because the few kids in our mixed neighbourhood all went elsewhere to trick-or-treat. The university students at the other end of the block didn't so much as put on a hat before they started ringing the bell about 9 pm. When my own kids were…

I used to volunteer with Big Sisters. I learned a long time ago that my story pales in comparison. But thank you. I watch my daughter with my granddaughter and I'm pretty sure that whatever it was, it isn't genetic.

That's probably what I would ask someone in my position. I forced a meet-up with him years ago and he said then that if he had it to do over again, he wouldn't have done it. I was too young, too wounded and too gobsmacked to follow it up at the time. I thought, "You're telling me you did this for NOTHING"? This is an…

I saw my father once when I was about 20. Forced the issue. He told me if he had it to do over again, he wouldn't have left. In my view, that made him an even greater asshole than I had imagined possible. I went and got drunk, but as you learn quite early, if you're lucky - there isn't enough booze.

I wish I'd seen this earlier. I could cry at your loss. My father left for my mother's best friend. She used to babysit us, we were tiny kids, we trusted her. He's 92 and I can count on one hand the number of times I saw him before his wife became demented - and it was always at the instigation of someone else, or a…

Please don't misunderstand me. My childhood was devastated by my father and my mother's (former) best friend who decided the key to their future happiness lay in pretending neither had ever been married before - to the extent of leaving my sister and me out of the family tree. It's only now that his wife is demented…

I'm just getting to know my father, who cheated on, then divorced and blamed my mother. He's 92, and he reached out after more than 50 years, so I'll reconcile now, but there are so many questions I'd ask, if it weren't for wanting to protect my sister.

But not, perhaps, textbook behaviour for a mistress. Pointing out that it was dishonest to blame his problems on his ex-wife was an admirable step. For a mistress.

The cruel truth of it is that whatever fine qualities he might have had, he was reckless with the life of that 9 year old child.

No one ever told me how gobsmacked I would be when my daughter said, "Daddy, will you marry me"? He responded that he couldn't, because he was already married to me. (Not the best answer, I know.) She cast her eyes in my general direction, made a bit of a face and said, "Well, if she dies, then will you marry me?"…

He is indeed. I kind of feel like a proud Mum when I see his career just keep soaring.

We were convoying with my mother-in-law, bringing her back from Florida for the summer. My son was about 2, lactose intolerant, but insisted on drinking milk. Insisted. The style of carseat at the time lifted him up about 6 inches from the seat. He was complaining about a tummy ache, we stopped so I could get him out…

My cousin has severe autism, and not many days go by that his mom doesn't recount, with great hilarity, his latest escapades with poop. She's a trouper. FB saves her life. Funniest story is from fiction - Mordecai Richler's provincial Canadian character is at a dinner party at the home of some tony strangers in…

Thanks. I realized too late that my comment had a certain Luddite quality to it.

Soldier on. The struggle is worth it. So are you, and so is your daughter. Take care.

I love him for seeing what he saw in Robin Williams. I could never feel comfortable watching him. I found it painful.

Jian Ghomeshi is a first rate interviewer. I think his program is broadcast on some stations in the US now. Find it if you can. You won't be sorry. His interview with Billy Bob Thornton was epic, for all the wrong reasons. It's on Youtube.

"What did their stationary bill come to?" They couldn't go to Vistaprint if they were stationary.

I was a kid back in the 60's when it was popular for girls and women to back-comb their hair and wear it in Priscilla Presley-style bouffants. Teachers and principles tried to scare us with stories about spiders, mice, and other small animals nesting in our hair. We didn't believe it then, and I'm sceptical now. It's…