**November Deadline to join in on the fun! With the holiday season fast approaching, I wanted to tell you about an organization I volunteer for each year. It's called Hugs & Hope!

Growing up, in film, TV, and books, I learned that dolphins often help out humans in scary situations such as shark attacks. They will bump the shark away from the human. Other times, humans have been towed nearer to shore by a dolphin or two. Flipper. He was fantastic. Right?

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is bringing attention to the fact that it is legal in eight states and the District of Columbia for insurance companies to deny coverage due to previous instances of domestic violence. The eight states include Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

Recently, BlogHer had a contest for a $500 Visa gc asking about its readers' favorite birth story. As I have no children of my own, I only gladly relayed the story of my first time meeting my baby brother. I was 4 1/2 when he was born 3 weeks early. He actually arrived the day of my mom's surprise baby shower, as is evident by the pained expression in all her photos from that day.

So Much More Than a Mom recently wrote about the events that lead to her breakdown. That got me to thinking about my own little breakdown. Cyndi's climaxed after a 2-year series of unfortunate events; mine climaxed after 8 14 years of unfortunate events. I *should* password-protect this post so that it doesn't end up being screen-shot or quoted on someone else's blog, but I'm tired of letting CAB hinder me.