Smile, I can't imagine having been on the scene at such a heartbreaking disaster. You must be one incredibly strong and wonderful person. I'm now even more intrigued by the eye movement therapy. When you talk about using it to combat stage fright, by walking fast or running, or even just visualizing that, I think of the importance that the physical act of running has in my life. (And I can't run right now -- Xrays this week ruled out osteoarthritis, but MRIs tomorrow will search for herniated disk or stress fracture...but I digress...).

As I start to run, I feel a bit discombobulated, out of myself. Then, as I become calm and get a rhythm, stress just floats away. I become like a unit with the space I'm running through, and I feel strong and in control. It is a truly empowering feeling. And, I find that the longer I go, the deeper the feeling becomes. A 15-mile run grounds me and settles my soul better than a four-mile run. When I'm running short, I sometimes don't get through the part where I'm totally focused on me and how I'm feeling, and there's not enough time to destress. But when I go long, I run through that "hump," and then start relating to trees, birds, what the clouds look like, every detail of the environment I'm in. It's remarkble.

I thought you probably knew about some of those D.C. sites. There's just so much to do in that city. And yes, the Natural History museum is the one with all the gems. How cool that Alex is bringing his BONES along on the trip. Even if they turn out not to be from a dinosaur -- which would be remarkable -- something for his local newspaper to write a story about -- it will be fun for him to have a scientist or curator take a look and give him a "professional opinion."

Dotsie, I'm glad you were able to send my suggestions off to your son. He'll find his own things to do, but it's nice to have a jumping-off point. What a trip he's going to have. Such beautiful places.

And islands with lush beaches? I'm not much of a sit-on-the-beach type, so I'm not the go-to-gal for recommendations on islands and resorts.

However, last February Mike and I took the kids to Jamaica to the Sunset Beach Resort in Montego Bay. It was an all-inclusive, something I vowed I'd never do, but am glad I did. We had an absolute blast there. It was a great place, we all loved it, and I highly recommend it. If you cruise my blog, you'll find a post that I wrote a few months ago called, "Ya, mon. In Jamaica, even the soup is smiling." It's about Sunset Beach. And, I found it by surfing through my favorite travel website, which I recommended some posts back, www.TripAdvisor.com. Awesome site.

I have visited some incredible non-island beaches. I will always remember the beach at Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica. Pristine. Like Gilligan's Island ( or Lost). The other beauty that sticks in my mind is Stinson Beach, north of San Francisco as you head up the California coast toward Bodega Bay. And, the beaches of the far western Algarve coast in Portugal, near Cabo Sao Vicente, where Portugal juts out into the Atlantic. These beaches are backed by towering ocher- and rust-colored cliffs, and they are hidden from the world above. I remember one in particular that reminded me of the beach that Charlton Heston rides on at the end of the original "Planet of the Apes." Otherworldly.