Peckerwood Manor

Dolly makes a great CoverGirl because this photo is so her, and she makes an excellent case for her selfless reasons to remain Childless by Choice. One of the most fundamental decisions some of us make as adults is to decide if we want to become parents of children beyond our furry or befeathered ones. The answer changes the trajectory of our lives, informs us about what our older age might look like, and forces women to come to terms with life choices and our limited biological timeframe to produce babies. We have about 20-25 years of fertility in adulthood, and we have decisions to make that are more nuanced with each advancing year. What we decide at 19 certainly differs from what we choose at 40. When the door slams, our bodies make it a moot point; it has made that decision for us. For better or worse, we must live with our choices and forge lives living with the results. Men aren't faced with this reality; just look at Robert De Niro or Al Pacino, choosing to become parents i...

Lottie Lion from the British version of BBC's The Apprentice has some profound feelings about her flight being interrupted from London to Paris by what she called "a bratty six year old." Her declaration has been divisive, but she did add that the parents were sitting in the front row.  I know from personal experience that sitting next to wailing children whose parents have slunk off to another part of the plane and are whooping it up, drinking cocktails, and watching television is annoying and inappropriate. Or the ones who act like they don't even know their child is in distress need to be whole arm slapped. I have also comforted a child who was afraid and had a flight attendant tell a parent they needed to come and we will exchange seats. Most of the time, the parent is also anxious, but sometimes they seem to think it is their time off. Once, a mother scowled at me for summoning her. The kid was crying so hard there was snot everywhere, and not to be shallow, but ...