Grownups

The United States is one of the most obese countries in the world. This became very clear to me once I lived outside of the country.  When I first arrived in South Africa I was on the plump side -- not obese, but certainly overweight. As an ex-pat, my way of eating changed tremendously. I still enjoyed great food, but in much smaller portions, and I began to visit the gym regularly. The change in my body was obvious. After several months of living in South Africa, my friends began to ask me the "secret" to my weight loss. There was no real secret; I started eating healthy foods, prepared mostly at home, and exercising.

 "Only one bathroom?" The woman behind me looked ahead, at the half-dozen other passengers waiting for the tiny toilet to be available. I smiled and nodded, raising my eyebrows in a what can you do? kind of way.

Ah, the holidays. They've arrived, and along with them come all the grandparents with large plastic toys and gadgets and clothes and more toys and where the heck are you going to put all that STUFF?Not to mention -- are your kids getting a wee bit spoiled?

Last month the San Francisco Chronicle reported that six-year-old Zachary Christie had been suspended for 45 days for bringing a camping utensil that contained a knife to school. Because he was excited about Boy Scouts.It seems the school board did come to its senses and reduce his sentence, but the knee-jerk application of a zero-tolerance policy enacted to protect students in the wake of school violence for basically packing a spork is troubling. Where do you draw the line?

What do you do when one spouse wants another child and the other does not? Add advanced maternal age and one fallopian tube to the equation and you have a recipe for disaster. I am an only child and in my ideal world would be the mother of two children. However, my desire may not be fulfilled. My husband is not too keen about having another child, I've heard every excuse from the economy to sleep deprivation and am honestly at my wits end.