I made dinner for Greg, the rugrats and my parents on Valentine's Day.  Macy  was making cards for everyone... she presented them to each person and then sat down, quite satisfied with herself.  On the inside of the card she gave to my parents it said, "Love only lasts as long as its supposed to."  At first glance my mom was a tad bewildered, but then she read it again, and again out loud.  Each time she read it, the words became truer.  Mine simply stated, "love matters" and Tristan's claimed that she would love him no matter what he did... she loves him like crazy!

Saturday I whisked her off to the beach for a mommy-daughter date day... metal-detector in hand we set off to find some treasure, after all it is Palm Beach!  No luck, but we had a good time... on our walk back she looked up and asked, "mom, why aren't those people with the billion dollar houses out enjoying their beaches?  what is wrong with them?"  Good question, Macy.  Later, at the ice cream shoppe with a crisp five dollar bill burning a hole in her pocket, I tried to discourage her from blowing her dough on more sugar in the form of over-priced candy by offering up these words of wisdom..."hey maybe if you started saving all those dollars that you get from everyone on holidays and birthdays, maybe you could be a billionaire someday..." and this was her immediate reply~  "I don't want to be a billionaire!  Billionaires are NEVER happy!"  She got me there...

"Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands."  Anne Frank