Fran, re the birthday: regardless of what he says, I would not let the day go by without acknowledgment of some kind

Thanks Lil - that's what I thought. I'd pretty much decided to go with Corri's idea and let the kids do their thing in the morning, then do something else just between the two of us. His folks might come down and surprise him. His mum's chocolate cake is the best so I guess he'll appreciate that.


if we can be sufficient to ourselves, we need fear no entangling webs
Erica Jong