The benefit here is, I suppose, that neither the mouse nor his family will be suing you for breaking ribs and saving lives and stuff. This is a story made for retelling, and I'll bet your kids talk about it for the rest of their lives.

If there's anything in life that's ironic, it's parenting.

What a tragic, cool, tragically cool online community story. The internet is a brutal jungle, but every so often you find a group of people around a blazing fire keeping the monsters in the darkness beyond at bay.

This was great. I'm a total sucker for posts that get sincerely, and insightfully, at the barriers that hold them back; and in articulating that stuff, I've also found that it opens up new reserves of strength. Really, this is the kind of stuff that, to me, makes blogging a worthwhile endeavor. And wherever dark places you've been, however beat down you've felt, even just making baby steps in the right direction indicates a parent doing a good job. It's the ones who plateau, the ones who aren't trying to be better in deliberate and meaningful ways, that live the saddest existence. And sometimes I'm one of them. I know I need a kick in the pants. It's that upward trajectory, no matter where you start from, that matters most, I think. Because your kids will look back, and say, no matter where you start from, "Wow, mom never stopped trying; she became a better person, and then I did too, and now I'm gonna pass that on to even more people around me."

Anyway. Good to read this. And a very good reminder to me.

Holy crap. All the luck to you, Elizabeth. With battle scars like these you'll deserve a medal of honor.
My recent post Tire swings and quiet moments

Congrats!