My goodness Dianne...that's some experience. Isn't it amazing how resilient we are when we're young, thinking we can take on the world. Thank God for youth and its innocence. I think in alot of ways its our innocence that can protect us, even unknowingly. As long as we're tapped into our own inner core.

When I was 18 I quit grade thirteen and hitchhiked with my boyfriend all through the U.S and across Canada. I swear to God I had angels who picked me up. They were forever giving me advice, taking me home to meet their family and giving us dinner! I will always remember the kindness of Americans. That was one of the most amazing experiences of my life....meeting such kind people across the U.S. nation and getting to experience the grandeur of the U.S. and its amazing landscapes!

With regard to kids leaving home. My son wanted to move to Alberta because his girlfriend was moving there. He was 18. He still had one more year to go in high school. I told him that he had to finish high school. After that he was free, a free man. The minute he left high school he went to live with his girlfriend ( who became his friend) and her family in Alberta, to get work in the restaurant business. We live in the wilderness. Exactly one year later he returned home and told me of his experience in the work world. He had 2 managers, the first one was totally perfect, organized, fair, knew what he was doing but the second one, came in, started firing people and created total chaos. My son couldn't believe the way business worked. So he came home.

He said he'd never leave B.C. again and he'd create his own job. He missed the mountains, the clean water, the fresh air and his family! He's with us now! And I thank God I had the courage to give him his freedom! What a sweetheart! He even helped me scan my 360 page manuscipt into Word on the computer before he left. What a job that was! I am truly blessed by a son who sees wisdom and is following his creative heart!

Raising kids in their late teens is like walking a tight rope sometimes...you've got to gage their wisdom, their heart, their creativity, their goals and the yearning for their spirit's freedom as well as peer pressure. I found the one main thing that was important was teaching my son how to think for himself! Instead of being blown about by the wind following his peers thoughts and deeds. I also told him the truth, I agreed with him that school was crap, but he had to do it, a) because that was the way the world worked and b) because school would expand the mind and his ability to think. He agreed! In Canada, school has been dumbed down extensively...what is required of the kids now is just a drop in the bucket compared to back in the seventies when I went to school.

Kids are getting a raw deal, right across the board, systems designed to churn them out into the world with no training, no understanding, and no wisdom. Schools that teach random courses that will not benefit kids in the real world! Rising costs in education that benefit school boards and not the kids.

I think in these times it's important to find the talent in your children...their interests and nurture them...because they came in for a purpose and its our job to help them find their purpose and to help give them an avenue to express it.

And I feel for those kids who leave home because of abuse and pain. God that would suck..being a kid and nowhere to go for peace.

With love
Leigha