Kitt

Wasn't Herbie cute? I remember seeing it laying in the back of my parents station wagon at a drive in. My brother was 4 at the time and wanted to know why the bug parked next to us sat so still when Herbie couldn't manage to. You got it - your turn

You will have to come back and tell us any non-confidential details you can after the fact!

Excellent points.

I don't think i ever saw Mann toss a tantrum before. Can't say as I blame him though!

And of course - YOU miss the point again. Matts poor, thoughtless and childish behaviors cannot be excused by anyone else's behavior. Even if we were to stipulate ( which I do NOT) that all of Wills behavior has been poor for the last three books - that does NOT make it right to for Matt to behave in the manner he has. Multiple wrongs do not make the behaviors right.

I think I am missing something here B1ue. You disagree that you can choose who you wish to include in your family that is not biologically related? My statement was while you cannot choose who is biologically related, you can choose to include people not biologically related. JP did that when he raised Ace (Andre and Isadores son) and Brad ( Janice Shulter and Kevin Carmichael's son).

We've tried family trees - they come out looking more like a honeysuckle bush or a wild grape vine. I have to disagree with Tim ( big surprise huh?) - while you cannot pick who mother nature sticks you with for relatives - you most certainly CAN choose who you include in your family. JP CHOSE to include Brad - the son of his cousin's wife and the man she had an affair with and therefore no blood relation- in the Crampton/Shulter family. Robbie became a member of the family thru becoming Brad's partner, as did Frank when he joined with Isadore, both of which were choices. Hell - even Ace is biologically unrelated to the family.

That's it! I am nominating you for King of the Cliffies! All in favor send a pc to Connor! When Brad lights a fire under someone he doesn't use tinder and kindling does he? He goes for the rocket fuel! I was just thinking that Stef and I were both going to be disappointed at the lack of drama at dinner when Brad lit his match! Not where I was expecting the family dinner drama to come from but wonderful! Thanks for yet another fantastic chapter!

Thirty two years later I still do not know - nor do I want to - what hubby's stag consisted of. My brother did the planning, and he is one crazy bugger. I never had a big to-do. Went to lunch with the small circle of what I called the besties at the time. Two of the three are still in that circle of besties, so I guess I chose pretty well.

Well welcome back! Sometimes I think life was simpler before computers. This one is a bit longer than we've agreed on, but we haven't seemed to be adhering to length limits. I may be kidding myself, but I think I can make something out of that sad little bucket of bolts."

The weirdest one I ever remember having was a long while back. It was Christmastime 1990, I was 6 months into my pregnancy with wings, hosting Christmas Eve dinner for the first time, and came down with the flu a week before the holiday.Being pregnant I was extremely limited on what medications I could take and was not sleeping much, then fell asleep early on the eve on the sofa with National Lampoons Christmas Vacation on. My family members took the place of the cast in the fevered dream, the disasters got progressively worse, and when I woke I was absolutely manic that the evening NOT turn out like the movie.

4:30 pm and contemplating what i want to fix for dinner.

ummm.......Boys Life? or This Boy's Life? Something like that

If your point is that there is no right or wrong in the world of relative morality - then why do you keep shredding Will for being wrong? You decided at some point that you dislike the fact Will was emancipated and use that to to say he should be acting like an adult, yet fail to hold Matt - an adult - to the same standard? You say that acting on your impulses without considering the impact on others makes one an ill-mannered inconsiderate lout. What does that make a 21 year old ( read supposed adult) who HAS considered the fall out - not just as it affects Will but Wade as well - and goes out and does it anyway? I can think of a lot of words for that - but I think your word when we were discussing that exec from Connecticut fits best - douche bag . IMHO this is NOT about if Will and Tony are involved. It IS about two supposed brothers - something Will seemed to feel existed but Matt seems to feel doesn't - respecting each others feelings. It is NOT about if Will has grown up and matured or not - it IS about if Matt has.

very good! your turn

Head on no bike driver has too much of a chance.

Have a great day and a better evening! Happy Birthday!

I can see some whopper changes coming in Matt's life too, but I am not sure the military is in the cards. Recruits, both enlisted and OCS candidates, are expected to play by the rules, something Matt has shown a distinct lack of interest in lately.

Wayne is good at winding up that little voice and the damn thing will not shut up when it gets started till I write it down. Now, if I can just get it to go beyond a first chapter! Thanks for reading and taking the time to review!

My thoughts exactly Thorn! I can't even see being comfortable on a cafe bike, let alone this one. Give me a nice touring bike with his and hers tiered seats. ( The industries name not mine - I am just as happy if you want to call em his and his!)

I guess we will have to agree to disagree, because I think Matt IS wrong - it is wrong to sleep with someone you know has any sort of a relationship with your brother, no matter how tenuous that brotherhood is, it is wrong to be sleeping with everything he can possibly lure into a bed, and it is wrong to lie and hide things just to avoid the consequences. I can only speak to myself in this, but I have chosen not to voice an opinion one way or the other on this assertion because I don't feel I know enough about JJ and what he would or would not do. I think he has shown a certain solidarity with his siblings in the past and would hope it would extend to this sort of situation, but I simply do not know. As for Wills time with Ethan's buddy and Allister, as well as the games at the ice competition, none of the guys involved were known to be in an intimate relationship with anyone. Ethan's buddy was, so far as we know, just that - a school chum. Allister was a friend of JJ's, but of no romantic association, and had there been any I can't see either Will or Allister going there. The guys at the ice competition? Once JJ asked for Evan to be off limits, didn't Will do just that? Other than the purchase of the car, what unacceptable behavior has Will indulged in that anyone is excusing as grief induced? All of that said - I still think Matt is on an extremely self destructive path, and on the verge of losing Wade. He started down that path quite a while before Robbie's death with his sexual exploits. Grief may be accelerating the process, but it is far from the cause. Matt needs to get professional help before he ends up like some of his relatives. Right now I am thinking Wade would be much better off with his lawyer friend.

Of course I never expected the voice to stay quiet! Actually I am surprised it didn't pester me in the middle of cooking holiday dinners. Thanks

Matt only has Wade? Then I guess his adoptive parents with whom he has reconciled, his biological grandfather Frank and soon to be ( if she isn't already) step grandmother, and all the other people of the Crampton/Shulter family who welcomed Matt into their home, supported him through the financial difficulties after he was outted, and generally accepted him as family don't count? Wade is reacting and not thinking? Maybe. But he HAS ALSO LOST HIS FATHER. And not a second father he had just recently found, as is the case with Matt. He has lost the ONLY father he has. And no one is saying Matt is mature and wise because he is acting like a spoiled 13 yr old, not the 20-something college senior he is. Going out and bedding Tony in spite of being very aware that it would not only hurt Will but would also bother Wade seems to me to be the sort of thing i had to deal with while working with 5th graders. "I'm gonna do it just cause you told me not to." I know Sammy Blue was asking Tim, but I would like to answer his question. If my sibling ever slept with my partner (or even attempted to) there would be hell to pay. That is something no one should have to ever even warn a sibling about - let alone have happen AFTER you had made it clear it was unacceptable.

As I said in My review - "Matt on the other hand knew exactly how much it would piss Will off for him to bed Tony, and apparently set out to do it anyway. And he did this knowing it would upset Wade almost as much as it would Will. Pushing the people you care about away in your grief is one thing - this is bordering on self destructive behavior. If something doesn't happen to pull his head out of his ass and put it back on his shoulders soon, the fall out might just be cataclysmic." People keep bashing Will for behaving like a 15 yr old. How can the same people not get irritated by Matt - in his 20's and supposedly an adult - acting like a 13 yr old?

"Beautiful, very visually dynamic. I choose my stage well."