Hello, All

Lynn, you've lived the life many people dream of -at least those of us raised on Jimmy Buffet and the likes of "Son of a Son of a Sailor Man". I'm sure that the real version is quite different from the imagined one. Congratulations on being so successful in so many areas.

On the impact of mothers, I'd like to share the flip side - my impact on our daughters. I think they plan to live their lives exactly the opposite of how I've lived mine. One's 25 and the other is almost 20. Neither of them appears to be obsessed with getting ahead. My grandfather was an Italian immigrant with ten children when he died in his early 50's because he went to work in the coal mines with pnemonia. He died six months before social security was inacted. My grandmother didn't speak English until the day she died in 1973 at the age of 83. I was 25, and close to her. She warned me not to have too many children. You can believe I selected my major in college based on employability.

Our girls don't think that way. They think work is about having fun. I think work is about constantly challenging yourself to do better, and the fun comes in doing better. Who's right? Go figure.

Carol K