Yes, your idea to start slowly is smart!

Thank you so much everyone!! ❤️❤️❤️

Thank you so much. I really appreciate your response. 🧡

Yes, I'd be fine w/ a little kid too! It makes no sense! I love your idea of the phone and the flashlight. Never thought of the flashlight. I used to take my keys to bed too -- when I was alone -- thinking that I could set off the car alarm (if the car was out front). You're right about nightlights too. Thank you!!

Congratulations! I would love to be free of this.

Wow. Amazing story. I wouldn't mind trying that at all. Thanks!!

I've had a life-long problem of not liking to be in houses by myself. I'm fine during the day, but at night: no. I really get freaked out. There's no rhyme or reason to it. As a kid, I would not leave the TV room and walk down the dark hallway to use the bathroom. (I'd wait for my younger sister or just hold it.) As a teen, my parents traveled and I never wanted to sleep alone in the house (one that we'd been in forever). I always hoped I'd outgrow it, but I haven't. I'm really ready to get a grip on this. Am I alone in this thing? If you found something that helped, I'm all ears. TIA

Super awesome on audio (I've listened probably four times): Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil. It's particularly good on audio because the voice-actor does all of the southern accents. Also Jerry Seinfeld's Is This Anything? Voiced by Jerry and hilarious.

Check out this "influencer!" She puts clothes together beautifully and often showcases Target and Walmart (which is great b/c she doesn't feature super pricey clothes. She's also all about color so rarely shows dark blue and I don't think I've ever seen anything black on her site (besides leggings). I can't recommend her highly enough, she's really good. StraightAStyleblog.com And congratulations on your new job!

I have several that I like, and I'd love to hear more ideas for inspirational podcasts to listen to. Also, I'm up for episodes of a podcast. I love listening to Tim Ferriss, but am not interested in most guests, but every so often he interviews someone who's super interesting to me. TIA!! 🤗

Re: dark circles: I never had them, until I did when I was 56. Nothing I tried help. After being so frustrated, out of curiosity I put a swipe of white zinc oxide on the circles. The zinc couldn't cover them either. That's when I knew that I'd have to do something serious w/ a dermo. I'm not ready to go to the dermo, so these days I try to make them a little less "loud" with a good base, a good concealer (tape, but in mat not creamy) and I sometimes pat on the yellow color corrector Hopefully your circles aren't as annoying as mine.

Partially I think you have teenage-itis. Teenagers are rough on everyone. I would have accidentally done the same exact thing you did w/ the acne med and my son and beat myself up for it later. I won't give spoilers, but there's a book called The Choice: Embrace the Possible by Edith Eger. It's a memoir -- one of the best I've ever read --and deals with her past regrets. The most helpful thing for me from the book was: that was then, this is now. I did the best I could with what I knew. There's a twist at the end. I highly recommend this book. As for being 50 I reacted similar to you. Now I'm 58 and wish I were 50. Going through menopause can really mess with your thinking. I became extremely claustrophobic. If we were in a hotel, I'd take stairs if there weren't too many. It was crazy it went on for about a year, and then disappeared. Later I realized that the claustrophobia came with menopause.. All this to say, don't discount the challenge of menopause.. One last thing. When I start thinking about my regrets, I literally stop and put on headphones and listen to a favorite podcast to get my mind off of my thinking. Sounds like a fluffy idea, but sometimes I couldn't stop ruminating about past terrible mistakes I made through the years. The podcasts interrupted that thinking. Still do. I hope some of this helps.

I'm just finishing the best book! I call books, "book-dessert." If you’ve grappled with the medical system — and who over 50 hasn’t? — this memoir is like a gift from the heavens. The Beauty of Dusk by Frank Bruni starts a tad slow. I found myself skim-reading and began to think that maybe the book should have been distilled down to the size of an article. Thankfully!! I did not put the book down (after coming super close). In his early 50s, Bruni had it all: a phenomenal job (New York Times columnist and bestselling book author), friends, family, a partner: he was living his best life. But one morning he woke up with a blurriness in one eye that turned out couldn’t be fixed. Even worse, there’s a twenty percent chance his other eye could go down the same path, rendering him blind. Bruni shares deeply personal stories about his life, his health and how he manages his world with a (mostly) invisible disability. Bruni layers into his memoir all that was involved with taking care of his once highly competent father who with Alzheimer’s, going through a break-up when he’d just learned his diagnosis, and incredible stories about how different people deal with disease or a disabling condition. Review: worth your time to read or listen on audio. ♥ But these are my most favorite book-desserts on the planet.

Just tossing in other questions: can he remember a time when he was accused of something that he hadn't actually done, but he learned from the experience? Does he have siblings much younger than him whom he waited to be born? Was there ever a trip he took that he learned something important? I'm in agreement with you: he's too young to expect him to spill painful info. Mine would never do it.

I've found two new ideas! Both of these are based in Atlanta, but you get the idea! https://www.theskybarre.com/ and https://www.studiobungee.com/

Thanks to you, I went searching and found a spin class by me! Thank you so much!! Kisses!

Farrar, when I was going to a yoga/Pilates studio (not the snotty type, very friendly), they mainly offered mat Pilates which kept the price down. The owner who taught mat Pilates, also lead the local football team in Atlanta in a class every week. And they complained about it being too hard. 😄 Anyway, this studio also offered barre classes. You might want to look for barre classes. My wonderful studio moved away and I didn't keep my work out habit going, I have a place 8 mins. from my house and I've been debating for the last year!! I need to get over there and just get started.

I think you sound like you're in great shape. I wish we had a spin class nearby.

Wildflower, if you're right this situation is just not human. But I think he was addicted to Oxycontin, that's what he went to rehab for. But, even so, drug addicts don't kill their own kids. I live in Atlanta and somehow this is just too close to home.

You absolutely want the book called The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. I used this book every single day of my sons' childhood. It's a treasure. The first half of the book explains the thinking about why reading aloud is so important and the second half of the book is a wonderful book list with descriptions of each book and what ages the book is appropriate for. I can't speak highly enough about the Read-Aloud Handbook. And the book I recommend: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Fabulous story. Have fun!

Who kills their own kid? Even addicted to drugs, who kills their kid? That's the part I don't get.

If you donate anything, consider using a charity that your mom really loved who also has a thrift shop, Cleaning out years of kid-clutter and donating it to an animal rescue group made donating to their thrift store so much easier. Hugs to you -- that's a lot to go through.

I love Call the Midwife, and one reason is because it follows history in various ways. It shows when midwives went from no meds at the births to chloroform (I think) for the moms. It's the first show I've watched to show exactly how the thamaldahide tragedy unfolded. It shows how the pill came into standard-use. It shows how English people dealt with bombs that Hitler dropped, but that had never exploded. The funny thing is, in the same time-frame, you can watch The Crown (royalty) and Call the Midwife (working poor cared for by the midwives). Both shows are set years after WWII. Each are set in relatively the same time in history. And the fashions are fun to watch too! Have fun!

I'm reading The Humans by Matt Haig and The Midnight Library both by Matt Haig. Here's how I review the book on my blog (meaning I'm not a professional reviewer, you might notice): My habit is to try several books each week and ditch the ones that don’t work for me. I read to about page 10 or even 20, but if something doesn’t improve, back into my library bag it goes. I promise to only share amazing books that I LOVE (caps intended; books deserve it). The author I have for you today is Matt Haig who authored two incredible, wowza books: The Humans. When you first start reading The Humans you might wonder if it’s a non-fiction and then think that maybe it’s sci-si. It’s neither. It’s a five-star read, infused with a bit of magic, that’ll make you happy to be a human. The story is about an alien who’s been tasked with visiting Earth to see what humans are all about. The alien inhabits a dad’s body and goes home to “his” family. It’s a fish-out-of-water story and has humorous moments, but it’s touching and wonderful and please read it. The Midnight Library. This Haig-masterpiece is about a woman who isn’t so thrilled with her life. Nothing’s going her way and she’s done. She ends up in a purgatory that takes her down several cool life-threads. If you’ve ever wondered, what if?, this is your read. And Haig outdid himself with the ending. I highly recommend both The Humans and The Midnight Library. They’re easy to read and you can plow through each in a weekend. ♥ Thank you for all of the great book ideas!

When we had twin toddlers running around, dh lost his job. I was stressed. Eventually we moved to a much better situation in every way. We went from CA to VA. Turned out better than I would have ever dreamed. Mine is IT too.