I too was a goth college student from DC taking the metro back from work to my dorm. I was dozing on the red line train when we got to metro center. A stream of humanity poured into the car with screams of ‘hail to the—-’. It took me forever to figure out what had happened.

That is one of the best birth/Dikta stories I’ve ever heard. 

Thank you! I headed to the comments to demand the recipe, but now I won’t look rude.

You could do what a chili chain I worked for did—make the child portions so tiny that it would only satisfy a disinterested five year old. I hated it, because the parents would take it out on the tip rather than speak to a manager—plus, the portions made of cheap pasta and frozen dino patties were really small which…

The sweaters on the Donald O’Connor and the....Gene Kelly(?) guys were a nice color and moved well, I guess. The poor women looked like otherworldly dolls.

That was my thought as well. Pa became the white savior of all oppressed people and Ma was very pretty.

Isn’t she supposed be about eight or nine? It was Little House on the Prairie. The fact that it is a fictional version of Laura Ingalls Wilder means (to me) that Wilder ( or her daughter) though it was fine to show ‘Laura’ be upset that she couldn’t take a baby from the mother. In the end, Ma was only upset that…

Real question— were the long dresses from the 90's considered prairie dresses? I loved those things-especially if I could unbutton the bottom skirt and wear jeans- and I know they were called prairie, but they look more like 1930's dust bowl dresses (which have their own set of problems.)

But Laura herself had a hissy fit when her Pa wouldn’t grab her an “Indian baby” from a mother who was walking with her family on the Trail of Tears.

The few times I’ve run into that sort of violence I’ve waved my phone around screaming that I got pictures and just sent them to the police. One was in the DC Mall area where some older kids started beating on another kid. Another was in my car when I was driving some of my kids home from school. As soon as they ran…

My life matters little now, but when I did a 10th birthday solo skate around my town’s roller rink to Another One Bites the Dust, I was memorable and golden.

I want to say something clever about taco salt, but I’m a haze of jealousy.... Is that your kitchen?

I remember when my husband first saw our baby. He had been kind of skittish about the whole thing (so was I-we were really young). The nurse said something like “hey Dad, come and see your baby.” He immediately went over and said “hi baby”. Another second passed and he started crying and repeating “hi baby! hi baby!”.…

It sounds like you’ve made some wonderful friends!

Wow. That sounds like a fun party for everyone but you. I’m so sorry that that was your shower, never mind if you wanted one or not. Was everything better later?

Please find some way to get the story of this shower to the masses. I would delight in reading any boots on the ground you have.

I always thought that each of my kids regressed to a two year old’s humor once they hit 12 or so. It’s actually a fun time with their almost-young adult selves losing it over watching Elmo yet again.

This makes me think of a couple I knew almost twenty years ago who would frequently get ‘re-engaged’ at bars in order to get free drinks. Ingrid (that was her name) would go outside to smoke and yank off her engagement ring. She then go back in to the bar and palm it off her fiance who would then ‘propose’ a few…

As a grown woman with the hands of a chubby five year old, I feel your lack of hand-skills but wonder if a spatula wouldn’t be more of a help. It could free your almost-nimble hands to hull berries for the pancakes, which is a much needed addition.

I’m wondering that too. I live near DC and have seen when I walk to work how easy it is for school groups to wander around without their teachers etc. Was it the urge to be the cool mom/dad to hang back and not spoil the ‘fun’? I’m sure this will all be hashed out in the next couple of days. My God, this is nothing…